Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Vol.113, No.5, 953-960, 2016
Production in Pichia pastoris of protein-based polymers with small heterodimer-forming blocks
Some combinations of leucine zipper peptides are capable of forming -helical heterodimeric coiled coils with very high affinity. These can be used as physical cross-linkers in the design of protein-based polymers that form supramolecular structures, for example hydrogels, upon mixing solutions containing the complementary blocks. Such two-component physical networks are of interest for many applications in biomedicine, pharmaceutics, and diagnostics. This article describes the efficient secretory production of A and B type leucine zipper peptides fused to protein-based polymers in Pichia pastoris. By adjusting the fermentation conditions, we were able to significantly reduce undesirable proteolytic degradation. The formation of A-B heterodimers in mixtures of the purified products was confirmed by size exclusion chromatography. Our results demonstrate that protein-based polymers incorporating functional heterodimer-forming blocks can be produced with P. pastoris in sufficient quantities for use in future supramolecular self-assembly studies and in various applications. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2016;113: 953-960. (c) 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Keywords:molecular self-assembly;Pichia pastoris;protein-based polymers;protein secretion;proteolysis