SummaryRecombinant proteins are widely used today in many industries, including the biopharmaceutical industry, and can be expressed in bacteria, yeasts, mammalian and insect cell cultures, or in transgenic plants and animals. In addition, transgenic algae have also been shown to support recombinant protein expression, both from the nuclear and chloroplast genomes. However, to date, there are only a few reports on recombinant proteins expressed in the algal chloroplast. It is unclear whether this is because of few attempts or of limitations of the system that preclude expression of many proteins. Thus, we sought to assess the versatility of transgenic algae as a recombinant protein production platform. To do this, we tested whether the algal chloroplast could support the expression of a diverse set of current or potential human therapeutic proteins. Of the seven proteins chosen, >50% expressed at levels sufficient for commercial production. Three expressed at 2%-3% of total soluble protein, while a forth protein accumulated to similar levels when translationally fused to a well-expressed serum amyloid protein. All of the algal chloroplast-expressed proteins are soluble and showed biological activity comparable to that of the same proteins expressed using traditional production platforms. Thus, the success rate, expression levels, and bioactivity achieved demonstrate the utility of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii as a robust platform for human therapeutic protein production.

No abstract

SummaryMicroalgae have the potential to be a valuable biotechnological platform for the production of recombinant proteins. However, because of the complex regulatory network that tightly controls chloroplast gene expression, heterologous protein accumulation in a wild-type, photosynthetic-competent algal chloroplast remains low. High levels of heterologous protein accumulation have been achieved using the psbA promoter ⁄ 5¢ untranslated region (UTR), but only in a psbA-deficient genetic background, because of psbA ⁄ D1-dependent auto-attenuation. Here, we examine the effect of fusing the strong 16S rRNA promoter to the 5¢ UTR of the psbA and atpA genes on transgene expression in the chloroplast of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. We show that fusion of the 16S promoter had little impact on protein accumulation from the psbA 5¢ UTR in a psbA-deficient genetic background. Furthermore, the 16S ⁄ psbA promoter ⁄ UTR fusion was silenced in the presence of wild-type levels of D1 protein, confirming that the psbA 5¢ UTR is the primary target for D1-dependent auto-repression. However, fusion of the 16S promoter to the atpA 5¢ UTR significantly boosts mRNA levels and supports high levels of heterologous protein accumulation in photosynthetic-competent cells. The 16S ⁄ atpA promoter ⁄ UTR drove LUXCT protein accumulation to levels close to that of psbA in a psbA) background, and drove expression of a human therapeutic protein to levels only twofold lower than the psbA 5¢ UTR. The 16S ⁄ atpA promoter ⁄ UTR combination should have utility for heterologous protein production when expression from a photosynthetic-competent microalgal strain is required.

Cell-free protein synthesis has emerged as a powerful technology for rapid and efficient protein production. Cell-free methods are also amenable to automation and such systems have been extensively used for high-throughput protein production and screening; however, current fluidic systems are not adequate for manufacturing protein biopharmaceuticals. In this work, we report on the initial development of a fluidic process for rapid end-to-end production of recombinant protein biologics. This process incorporates a bioreactor module that can be used with eukaryotic or prokaryotic lysates that are programmed for combined transcription/translation of an engineered DNA template encoding for specific protein targets. Purification of the cell-free expressed product occurs through a series of protein separation modules that are configurable for process-specific isolation of different proteins. Using this approach, we demonstrate production of two bioactive human protein therapeutics, erythropoietin and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor, in yeast and bacterial extracts, respectively, each within 24 hours. This process is flexible, scalable and amenable to automation for rapid production at the point-of-need of proteins with significant pharmaceutical, medical, or biotechnological value.

BackgroundExpression of recombinant proteins in green algal chloroplast holds substantial promise as a platform for the production of human therapeutic proteins. A number of proteins have been expressed in the chloroplast of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, including complex mammalian proteins, but many of these proteins accumulate to significantly lower levels than do endogenous chloroplast proteins. We examined if recombinant protein accumulation could be enhanced by genetically fusing the recombinant reporter protein, luciferase, to the carboxy-terminal end of an abundant endogenous protein, the large subunit of ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase (Rubisco LSU). Additionally, as recombinant proteins fused to endogenous proteins are of little clinical or commercial value, we explored the possibility of engineering our recombinant protein to be cleavable from the endogenous protein in vivo. This strategy would obviate the need for further in vitro processing steps in order to produce the desired recombinant protein. To achieve this, a native protein-processing site from preferredoxin (preFd) was placed between the Rubisco LSU and luciferase coding regions in the fusion protein construct.ResultsThe luciferase from the fusion protein accumulated to significantly higher levels than luciferase expressed alone. By eliminating the endogenous Rubisco large subunit gene (rbcL), we achieved a further increase in luciferase accumulation with respect to luciferase expression in the WT background. Importantly, near-wild type levels of functional Rubisco holoenzyme were generated following the proteolytic removal of the fused luciferase, while luciferase activity for the fusion protein was almost ~33 times greater than luciferase expressed alone. These data demonstrate the utility of using fusion proteins to enhance recombinant protein accumulation in algal chloroplasts, and also show that engineered proteolytic processing sites can be used to liberate the exogenous protein from the endogenous fusion partner, allowing for the purification of the intended mature protein.ConclusionThese results demonstrate the utility of fusion proteins in algal chloroplast as a method to increase accumulation of recombinant proteins that are difficult to express. Since Rubisco is ubiquitous to land plants and green algae, this strategy may also be applied to higher plant transgenic expression systems.