POT1-mediated δ-integration strategy for high-copy, stable expression of heterologous proteins in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

In biotechnological industry, increased expression cassette stability and copy number serve as important means of maintaining consistently high production levels of heterologous proteins in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In this study, we combined δ sequences for site-specific integration with TPI1 gene from Schizosaccharomyces pombe (POT1) as a selection marker to realize high-copy integration and stable expression of heterologous proteins in S. cerevisiae. With the newly developed POT1 platform, a 32-copy integration of enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) expression cassette was obtained in a single round and was stably maintained after 100 generations of growth in a rich complex medium. Talaromyces emersonii cellobiohydrolase I gene was synthesized with S. cerevisiae codon bias and expressed under the control of TPI1 promoter and terminator via POT1-mediated δ-integration; the highest specific activity yielded 238 mU g-1 of dry cell weight when p-nitrophenyl-β-D-cellobioside was used as substrate, whereas the highest activity in cellulose hydrolysis reached 67% Avicel conversion. POT1-mediated δ-integration produces high protein levels over a wide dynamic range and enables broad applications in metabolic engineering and synthetic biology.