Pichia pastoris: A highly successful expression system for optimal synthesis of heterologous proteins

• Published in: Journal of cellular physiology 2020-09, Vol.235 (9), p.5867-5881
• Main Authors: Karbalaei, Mohsen, Rezaee, Seyed A., Farsiani, Hadi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biotechnology; Endoplasmic reticulum; expression system; Fungal Proteins - biosynthesis; Fungal Proteins - genetics; Genetic engineering; Insects; Mini‐review; Mini‐reviews; Molecular biology; Optimization; Pichia pastoris; Proprotein Convertases - genetics; Protein Biosynthesis - genetics; Protein folding; Protein purification; Proteins; Proteomics; recombinant proteins; Recombinant Proteins - biosynthesis; Recombinant Proteins - genetics; Saccharomyces cerevisiae; Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins - genetics; Saccharomycetales - genetics; Signal peptidase; Sorbitol; subunit vaccines; Vaccines; Yeast; Yeasts
• ISSN: 0021-9541; 1097-4652
• DOI: 10.1002/jcp.29583

One of the most important branches of genetic engineering is the expression of recombinant proteins using biological expression systems. Nowadays, different expression systems are used for the production of recombinant proteins including bacteria, yeasts, molds, mammals, plants, and insects. Yeast expression systems such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae (S. cerevisiae) and Pichia pastoris (P. pastoris) are more popular. P. pastoris expression system is one of the most popular and standard tools for the production of recombinant protein in molecular biology. Overall, the benefits of protein production by P. pastoris system include appropriate folding (in the endoplasmic reticulum) and secretion (by Kex2 as signal peptidase) of recombinant proteins to the external environment of the cell. Moreover, in the P. pastoris expression system due to its limited production of endogenous secretory proteins, the purification of recombinant protein is easy. It is also considered a unique host for the expression of subunit vaccines which could significantly affect the growing market of medical biotechnology. Although P. pastoris expression systems are impressive and easy to use with well‐defined process protocols, some degree of process optimization is required to achieve maximum production of the target proteins. Methanol and sorbitol concentration, Mut forms, temperature and incubation time have to be adjusted to obtain optimal conditions, which might vary among different strains and externally expressed protein. Eventually, optimal conditions for the production of a recombinant protein in P. pastoris expression system differ according to the target protein. The Pichia pastoris (P. pastoris) has also been established as a versatile cell factory for the production of thousands of biomolecules both on a laboratory and industrial scale. Optimal conditions for the production of a recombinant protein in P. pastoris expression system differ according to the target protein.