Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry, Riga, Latvia.
Latvian Biomedical Research and Study Centre, Riga, Latvia.
Bioprocess Biosyst Eng. 2022 Sep;45(9):1447-1463. doi: 10.1007/s00449-022-02754-4. Epub 2022 Aug 8.
Recombinant hepatitis B core antigen (HBcAg) molecules, produced in heterologous expression systems, self-assemble into highly homogenous and non-infectious virus-like particles (VLPs) that are under extensive research for biomedical applications. HBcAg production in the methylotrophic yeast P. pastoris has been well documented; however, productivity screening under various residual methanol levels has not been reported for bioreactor processes. HBcAg production under various excess methanol levels of 0.1, 1.0 and 2.0 g L was investigated in this research. Results indicate that, under these particular conditions, the total process and specific protein yields of 876-1308 mg L and 7.9-11.2 mg g, respectively, were achieved after 67-75 h of cultivation. Produced HBcAg molecules were efficiently purified and the presence of highly immunogenic, correctly formed and homogenous HBcAg-VLPs with an estimated purity of 90% was confirmed by electron microscopy. The highest reported HBcAg yield of 1308 mg L and 11.2 mg g was achieved under limiting residual methanol concentration, which is about 2.5 times higher than the next highest reported result. A PI-algorithm-based residual methanol concentration feed rate controller was employed to maintain a set residual methanol concentration. Finally, mathematical process models to characterise the vegetative, dead and total cell biomass (X, X and X), substrate (Glycerol and Methanol) concentration, reactor volume (V), and product (HBcAg) dynamics during cultivation, were identified. A rare attempt to model the residual methanol concentration during induction is also presented.
重组乙型肝炎核心抗原 (HBcAg) 分子在异源表达系统中产生,自组装成高度同质且无感染性的病毒样颗粒 (VLPs),这些颗粒正在广泛研究用于生物医学应用。甲醇营养型酵母毕赤酵母 (P. pastoris) 中 HBcAg 的生产已有大量文献记载;然而,对于生物反应器工艺,尚未报道在各种残余甲醇水平下进行生产力筛选。本研究考察了在 0.1、1.0 和 2.0 g/L 等不同过量甲醇水平下 HBcAg 的生产情况。结果表明,在这些特定条件下,经过 67-75 h 的培养,可分别获得 876-1308 mg/L 的总过程和特定蛋白产率,以及 7.9-11.2 mg/g 的总过程和特定蛋白产率。产生的 HBcAg 分子得到了有效的纯化,通过电子显微镜证实存在高度免疫原性、正确形成和同质的 HBcAg-VLPs,估计纯度为 90%。在限制残余甲醇浓度下,实现了最高的报道 HBcAg 产量 1308 mg/L 和 11.2 mg/g,比下一个最高报道结果高约 2.5 倍。采用基于 PI 算法的残余甲醇浓度进料速率控制器来维持设定的残余甲醇浓度。最后,确定了用于描述培养过程中营养、死亡和总细胞生物量(X、X 和 X)、基质(甘油和甲醇)浓度、反应器体积(V)和产物(HBcAg)动力学的数学过程模型。还提出了一种在诱导过程中模拟残余甲醇浓度的罕见尝试。