Bioprocess development for therapeutical protein production

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Tezin Türü: Doktora

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

Tezin Onay Tarihi: 2008

Öğrenci: EDA ÇELİK AKDUR

Danışman: PINAR ÇALIK

Özet:

In this study, it was aimed to develop a bioprocess using the Pichia pastoris expression system as an alternative to the mammalian system used in industry, for production of the therapeutically important glycoprotein, erythropoietin, and to form stoichiometric and kinetic models. Firstly, the human EPO gene, fused with a polyhistidine-tag and factor-Xa protease target site, in which cleavage produces the native termini of EPO, was integrated to AOX1 locus of P. pastoris. The Mut+ strain having the highest rHuEPO production capacity was selected. The glycosylation profile of rHuEPO was characterized by MALDI-ToF MS and Western blotting. The native polypeptide form of human EPO was obtained for the first time in P. pastoris expression system, after affinity-purification, deglycosylation and factor-Xa protease digestion. Thereafter, effects of medium components and pH on rHuEPO production and cell growth were investigated in laboratory-scale bioreactors. Sorbitol was shown to increase production efficiency when added as a co-substrate. Moreover, a cheap alternative nutrient, the byproduct of biodiesel industry, crude-glycerol, was suggested for the first time for P. pastoris fermentations. Furthermore, methanol feeding strategy was investigated in fed-batch pilot-scale bioreactors, producing 70 g L-1 biomass and 130 mg L-1 rHuEPO at t=24h. Moreover, metabolic flux analysis by using the stoichiometric model formed, which consisted of m=102 metabolites and n=141 reactions, proved useful in further understanding the P. pastoris metabolism. Finally, the first structured kinetic model formed for r-protein production with P. pastoris successfully predicted cell growth, substrate consumption and r-product production rates, where rHuEPO production kinetics was associated with AOX production and proteolytic degradation.