Development of the Yeast Pichia pastoris as a System for the Production of Recombinant Proteins

December 8, 2011
12:30 pm – 2:00 pm EST

Symposium Course Description: The origins of the yeast Pichia pastoris will be discussed along with the logic and research that lead to its eventual development as a host for the production of recombinant proteins. Recent advances in vectors and host strains for its use will be presented. An example of its use, the cloning and expression of a full-length chimeric humanized monoclonal antibody, will be presented.

Learning Objective Bullet Points: 

• Understand the origin of this yeast system.
• Learn about recent advances in the system.
• Learn where information on how to use the system and where various components can be obtained.
• Understand the strengths and weaknesses of the yeast system with regard to the synthesis of specific types of proteins.

Who Should Attend: 
Researchers of all levels from B.A. to Ph.D. interested in synthesizing recombinant proteins. 

Instructor Information:
James M. Cregg, Ph.D. Professor, Keck Graduate Institute of Applied Life Sciences, Claremont, CA; Principal Scientist and Chairman of the Board, Biogrammatics, Inc., Carlsbad, CA.

Instructor Biography: 

Ph.D. degree, Rice University, Houston, TX, 1978; Postdoctoral fellow, Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation, La Jolla, CA, 1978-1980; Staff Scientist, BRL, Inc., 1980-1982; Senior Staff Scientist, SIBIA, La Jolla, CA, 1983-1989; Associate Professor, Oregon Graduate Institute, Beaverton, OR, 1989-1999; Professor, Keck Graduate Institute, Claremont, CA, 1999-present; Executive editorial board for journal Protein Expression and Purification, 1999-present ; Chairman of the Board, Biogrammatics, Inc., Carlsbad, CA, 2008-present; Principal Scientist, Biogrammatics, Inc., Carlsbad, CA, 2011-present.

Recent Publications: 

1. Cregg, J. M., Tolstorukov, I., Kusari, A., Sunga, J., Madden, K., and Chappell, T. (2009) Expression in the yeast Pichia pastoris. Methods Enzymol.;463:169-89.

2. Zhang, P., Zhang, W., Zhou, X., Bai, P., Cregg, J. M.2, and Zhang, Y. (2010) Role of two Pichia pastoris hexose transporter homologues in sugar uptake and catabolite derepression (sugar-induction) of AOX1 promotor. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 76:6108-6118.

3. Ternes, P., Wobbe, T., Schwarz, M., Albrecht, S., Feussner, K., Riezman, I., Cregg, J. M., Heinz, E., Riezman, H., Feussner, I., and Warnecke, D . (2011) Two pathways of sphingolipid biosynthesis are separated in the yeast Pichia pastoris. (in press).

4. Nazarko, V. Y., Nazarko, T. Y., Farre, J. C., Stasyk, O. V., Warnecke, D., Ulaszewski, S., Cregg, J. M., Sibirny, A. A., and Subramani, S. (2011) Atg35, a micropexophagy-specific protein that regulates micropexophagic apparatus formation in Pichia pastoris. Autophagy 7:375-385.

5. Jeffries, TW and Cregg, JM. (2010) Protein expression in non-conventional yeasts. Manual of Industrial Microbiology, 3rd ed. American Society for Microbiology R. H. Baltz, J. E. Davies and A. L. Demain, Editors. ASM Press, Washington DC. pp. 302-317.

6. Cregg, J. M., Tolstorukov, I., Kusari, A., Sunga, A. J., Madden, K., Chappell, T. (2011) Expression of recombinant genes in the yeast Pichia pastoris. Curr. Protoc. Essen. Lab. Tech. 13.2.2-13.2.14 (in press).