Improvement of ATP regeneration efficiency and operation stability in porcine interferon-α production by Pichia pastoris under lower induction temperature

The performance of traditional heterologous protein production by Pichia pastoris with methanol induction at 30 °C is poor, characterized by low ATP regeneration rate and weak operation stability. A low temperature induction strategy at 20 °C was thus adopted for efficient porcine interferon- α production in a 10 L fermentor. With the strategy, maximal methanol tolerance level could reach about 40 g/L to effectively deal with methanol concentration variations, so that the complicated on-line methanol measurement system could be eliminated. Moreover, metabolic analysis based on multiple state-variables measurements indicated that pIFN- α antiviral activity enhancement profited from the formation of an efficient ATP regeneration system at 20 °C induction. Compared to the induction strategy at 30 °C, the proposed strategy increased the ATP regeneration rate by 49–66%, the maximal pIFN- α antiviral activity was enhanced about 20-fold and reached a higher level of 1.5×10 6 IU/mL.