A metabolic shift from lactate production (LP) to net lactate consumption (LC) phenotype was observed in certain Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell lines during the implementation of a new chemically defined medium (CDM) formulation for antibody production. In addition, this metabolic shift typically leads to process performance improvements in cell growth, productivity, process robustness, and scalability. In our previous studies, a correlation between a key media component, copper, and this lactate metabolism shift was observed. To further investigate this phenomenon, two complementary studies were conducted. In the first study, a single cell line was cultivated in two media that only differed in their copper concentrations, yet were known to generate an LP or LC phenotype with that cell line. In the second study, two different cell lines, which were known to possess inherently different lactate metabolic characteristics, were cultivated in the same medium with a high level of copper; one cell line produced lactate throughout the duration of the culture, and the other consumed lactate after an initial period of LP. Cell pellet and supernatant samples from both studies were collected at regular time intervals, and their metabolite profiles were investigated. The primary finding from the metabolic analysis was that the cells in LP conditions exhibited a less efficient energy metabolism, with glucose primarily being converted into pyruvate, sorbitol, lactate, and other glycolytic intermediates. This decrease in energy efficiency may be due to an inability of pyruvate and acetyl-CoA to progress into the TCA cycle. The lack of progression into the TCA cycle or overflow metabolism in the LP phenotype resulted in the inadequate supply of ATP for the cells. As a consequence, the glycolysis pathway remained the major source of ATP, which in turn, resulted in continuous LP throughout the culture. In addition, the accumulation of free fatty acids was observed; this was thought to be a result of phospholipid catabolism that was being used to supplement the energy produced through glycolysis in order to meet the needs of LP cells. A thorough review of the metabolic profiles indicated that the lactate metabolic shift could be related to the oxidative metabolic capacity of cells.

To explore the function of PPARγ in the goat mammary gland, we cloned the whole cDNA of the PPARγ gene. Homology alignments revealed that the goat PPARγ gene is conserved among goat, bovine, mouse, and human. Luciferase assays revealed that rosiglitazone enhanced the activity of the PPARγ response element (PPRE) in goat mammary epithelial cells (GMECs). After rosiglitazone (ROSI) treatment of GMECs, there was a significant (P < 0.05) increase in the expression of genes related to triacylglycerol synthesis and secretion: LPL, FASN, ACACA, PLIN3, FABP3, PLIN2, PNPLA2, NR1H3, SREBF1, and SCD. The decreases in expression observed after knockdown of PPARγ relative to the control group (Ad-NC) averaged 65%, 52%, 67%, 55%, 65%, 58%, 85%, 43%, 50%, and 24% for SCD, DGAT1, AGPAT6, SREBF1, ACACA, FASN, FABP3, SCAP, ATGL, and PLIN3, respectively. These results provide direct evidence that PPARγ plays a crucial role in regulating the triacylglycerol synthesis and secretion in goat mammary cells and underscore the functional importance of PPARγ in mammary gland tissue during lactation.

Sterol regulatory element binding protein 1 (SREBP1; gene name SREBF1) is known to be the master regulator of lipid homeostasis in mammals, including milk fat synthesis. The major role of SREBP1 in controlling milk fat synthesis has been demonstrated in bovine mammary epithelial cells. Except for a demonstrated role in controlling the expression of FASN, a regulatory role of SREBP1 on milk fat synthesis is very likely, but has not yet been demonstrated in goat mammary epithelial cells (GMEC). To explore the regulatory function of SREBP1 on de novo fatty acids and triacylglycerol synthesis in GMEC, we overexpressed the mature form of SREBP1 (active NH2-terminal fragment) in GMEC using a recombinant adenovirus vector (Ad-nSREBP1), with Ad-GFP (recombinant adenovirus of green fluorescent protein) as control, and infected the GMEC for 48 h. In infected cells, we assessed the expression of 20 genes related to milk fat synthesis using real time-quantitative PCR, the protein abundance of SREBP1 and FASN by Western blot, the production of triacylglycerol, and the fatty acid profile. Expression of SREBF1 was modest in mammary compared with the other tissues in dairy goats but its expression increased approximately 30-fold from pregnancy to lactation. The overexpression of the mature form of SREBP1 was confirmed by >200-fold higher expression of SREBF1 in Ad-nSREBP1 compared with Ad-GFP. We observed no changes in amount of the precursor form of SREBP1 protein but a >10-fold increase of the mature form of SREBP1 protein with Ad-nSREBP1. Compared with Ad-GFP cells (control), Ad-nSREBP1 cells had a significant increase in expression of genes related to long-chain fatty acid activation (ACSL1), transport (FABP3), desaturation (SCD1), de novo synthesis of fatty acids (ACSS2, ACLY, IDH1, ACACA, FASN, and ELOVL6), and transcriptional factors (NR1H3 and PPARG). We observed a >10-fold increase in expression of INSIG1 but SCAP was downregulated by Ad-nSREBP1. Among genes related to milk fat synthesis and lipid droplet formation, only LPIN1 and DGAT1 were upregulated by Ad-nSREBP1. Compared with the Ad-GFP, the cellular triacylglycerol content was higher and the percentage of C16:0 and C18:1 increased, whereas that of C16:1, C18:0, and C18:2 decreased in Ad-nSREBP1 cells. Overall, the data provide strong support for a central role of SREBP1 in the regulation of milk fat synthesis in goat mammary cells.

C-terminal lysine (C-K) variants are commonly observed in therapeutic monoclonal antibodies and recombinant proteins. Heterogeneity of C-K residues is believed to result from varying degree of proteolysis by endogenous carboxypeptidase(s) during cell culture production. The achievement of batch-to-batch culture performance and product quality reproducibility is a key cell culture development criterion. Understanding the operational parameters affecting C-K levels provides valuable insight into the cell culture process. A CHO cell line X expressing a recombinant antibody was selected as the model cell line due to the exhibited sensitivity of its C-K level to the process conditions. A weak cation exchange chromatography (WCX) method with or without carboxypeptidase B (CpB) treatment was developed to monitor the C-K level for in-process samples. The effects of operating conditions (i.e., temperature and culture duration) and media trace elements (copper and zinc) on C-K variants were studied. The dominant effect on C-K level was identified as the trace elements concentration. Specifically, increased C-K levels were observed with increase of copper concentration and decrease of zinc concentration in chemically defined medium. Further, a hypothesis for C-K processing with intracellular and extracellular carboxypeptidase activity was proposed, based on preliminary intracellular carboxypeptidase Western blot results and the extracellular HCCF holding study.