Biology subjects

Muentjes, K.

Publications and source records attributed to Muentjes, K..

2 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2021

Establishing regulated unconventional secretion for production of heterologous proteins

Heterologous protein production is a highly demanded biotechnological process. Secretion of the product to the culture broth is advantageous because it drastically reduces downstream pro-cessing costs. We exploit unconventional secretion for heterologous protein expression in the fungal model microorganism Ustilago maydis. Proteins of interest are fused to carrier chitinase Cts1 for export via the fragmentation zone of dividing yeast cells in a lock-type mechanism. Here, we are first to develop regulatory systems for unconventional protein secretion. This enables uncoupling the accumulation of biomass and protein synthesis of a product of choice from its export. Regulation was successfully established at two different levels using transcriptional and post-translational induction strategies. As a proof-of-principle, we applied autoinduction based on transcriptional regulation for the production and secretion of functional anti-Gfp nanobodies. The presented developments comprise tailored solutions for differentially prized products and thus constitute another important step towards a competitive protein production platform.

molecular biology↗

bioRxiv2020

Polycistronic gene expression in the model microorganism Ustilago maydis

AbtractEukaryotic microorganisms transcribe monocistronic mRNAs to encode proteins. For synthetic biological approaches like metabolic engineering, precise co-expression of several proteins in space and time is advantageous. A straightforward approach is the application of viral 2A peptides to design synthetic polycistronic mRNAs in eukaryotes. Here, we establish such a system in the well-studied model microorganism Ustilago maydis. Using two fluorescence reporter proteins, we compared the activity of five viral 2A peptides. Their activity was evaluated in vivo using fluorescence microscopy and validated using fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET). Activity ranged from 20 to 100% and the best performing 2A peptide was P2A from porcine teschovirus-1. As proof of principle, we followed regulated gene expression efficiently over time and synthesised a tri-cistronic mRNA encoding biosynthetic enzymes to produce mannosylerythritol lipids (MELs). In essence, we evaluated 2A peptides in vivo and demonstrated the applicability of 2A peptide technology for U. maydis in basic and applied science.

microbiology↗