Quantitative physiology of Pichia pastoris during glucose-limited high-cell density fed-batch cultivation for recombinant protein production

Pichia pastoris has become one of the major microorganisms for the production of proteins in recent years. This development was mainly driven by the readily available genetic tools and the ease of high-cell density cultivations using methanol (or methanol/glycerol mixtures) as inducer and carbon source. To overcome the observed limitations of methanol use such as high heat development, cell lysis, and explosion hazard, we here revisited the possibility to produce proteins with P. pastoris using glucose as sole carbon source. Using a recombinant P. pastoris strain in glucose limited fed-batch cultivations, very high-cell densities were reached (more than 200 gCDW L⁻¹) resulting in a recombinant protein titer of about 6.5 g L⁻¹. To investigate the impact of recombinant protein production and high-cell density fermentation on the metabolism of P. pastoris, we used ¹³C-tracer-based metabolic flux analysis in batch and fed-batch experiments. At a controlled growth rate of 0.12 h⁻¹ in fed-batch experiments an increased TCA cycle flux of 1.1 mmol g⁻¹ h⁻¹ compared to 0.7 mmol g⁻¹ h⁻¹ for the recombinant and reference strains, respectively, suggest a limited but significant flux rerouting of carbon and energy resources. This change in flux is most likely causal to protein synthesis. In summary, the results highlight the potential of glucose as carbon and energy source, enabling high biomass concentrations and protein titers. The insights into the operation of metabolism during recombinant protein production might guide strain design and fermentation development. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2010;107: 357-368.