Effect of pH on erythropoietin production by recombinant Pichia pastoris in fed-batch operation


Tezin Türü: Yüksek Lisans

Tezin Yürütüldüğü Kurum: Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi, Mühendislik Fakültesi, Kimya Mühendisliği Bölümü, Türkiye

Tezin Onay Tarihi: 2010

Öğrenci: ELİF ŞÜKRAN SOYASLAN

Danışman: PINAR ÇALIK

Özet:

In this study, the effects of pH on therapeutically important protein, recombinant human erythropoietin (rhuEPO), production by Pichia pastoris was investigated at pH=4.0, 4.5, 5.0, 5.5 and 6.0. rHuEPO production was started by methanol induction in fed-batch mode. The highest cell concentration was obtained at pH=4.5 as 81.4 g L-1. The co-substrate substrate sorbitol, which was added batch-wise, was consumed at t=15 h of the operations at pH=4.0, 4.5 and 5.0. However as the pH increases above pH=5.0 the sorbitol consumption rate decreases. The highest rHuEPO concentration was achieved at pH=4.5 as 0.158 g L-1 which was 1.43-, 1.24-, 1.95- and 1.23-fold higher than those obtained at pH=4.0, 5.0, 5.5, and 6.0, respectively. Also at pH=4.5 overall cell yield on substrate was 0.51 g g-1 and overall rHuEPO yield on substrate was 1.45 mg g-1. rHuEPO concentration was decreased in the last 3-6 hour of the operation due to proteolysis. Therefore extracellular protease concentrations in the medium were determined. As expected, since the investigated pH range was acidic, the amount of acidic proteases was found to be higher than neutral and basic proteases. Furthermore the total protease concentration increased linearly in the fermentation broth, having close values at different pH values. Thus, pH did not have a significant effect on extracellular protease activity. Alcohol oxidase (AOX) activities showed similar behavior at different pH. The highest specific AOX activity was attained at pH=4.5, at which the highest rHuEPO concentration was achieved, as 110.1 U g-1 CDW. Keywords: