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Kluyveromyces as a Host for Heterologous Gene Expression: Expression and Secretion of Prochymosin

Bio/Technology volume 8, pages 135–139 (1990)Cite this article

Abstract

We have developed the yeast Kluyveromyces lactis as a host organism for the production of the milk-clotting enzyme chymosin. In contrast to Saccharomyces cerevisiae, we found that this yeast is capable of the synthesis and secretion of fully active prochymosin. Various signal sequences could be used to efficiently direct the secretion of prochymosin in Kluyveromyces, but not in S. cerevisiae. We conclude that the efficient synthetic and secretory capacity of this heterologous protein is a property of the yeast Kluyveromyces. These results have led to the development of a large scale production process for chymosin.

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Author notes

  1. Johan A. van den Berg: Corresponding author.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Royal Gist-brocades, Research and Development, P.O. Box 1, 2600 Ma, Delft, The Netherlands

    Johan A. van den Berg, Kees J. van der Laken, Albert J. J. van Ooyen, Ton C. H. M. Renniers, Krijn Rietveld & Albert Schaap

  2. Chiron Corporation, 4560 Horton Street, Emeryville, California, 94608

    Anthony J. Brake, Robert J. Bishop, Kathleen Schultz, Donna Moyer, Michael Richman & Jeffrey R. Shuster

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  1. Johan A. van den Berg
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  2. Kees J. van der Laken
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  3. Albert J. J. van Ooyen
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  4. Ton C. H. M. Renniers
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  5. Krijn Rietveld
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  6. Albert Schaap
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  7. Anthony J. Brake
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  8. Robert J. Bishop
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  9. Kathleen Schultz
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van den Berg, J., van der Laken, K., van Ooyen, A. et al. Kluyveromyces as a Host for Heterologous Gene Expression: Expression and Secretion of Prochymosin. Nat Biotechnol 8, 135–139 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt0290-135

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