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Appl. Environ. Microbiol., Apr 1997, 1362-1366, Vol 63, No. 4
T Murai, M Ueda, M Yamamura, H Atomi, Y Shibasaki, N Kamasawa, M Osumi, T Amachi and A Tanaka
We have engineered the cell surface of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae
by anchoring active glucoamylase protein on the cell wall, and we have
endowed the yeast cells with the ability to utilize starch directly as the
sole carbon source. The gene encoding Rhizopus oryzae glucoamylase with its
secretion signal peptide was fused with the gene encoding the C-terminal
half (320 amino acid residues from the C terminus) of yeast
alpha-agglutinin, a protein involved in mating and covalently anchored to
the cell wall. The constructed plasmid containing this fusion gene was
introduced into S. cerevisiae and expressed under the control of the
glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase promoter from S. cerevisiae. The
glucoamylase activity as not detected in the culture medium, but it was
detected in the cell pellet fraction. The glucoamylase protein transferred
to the soluble fraction from the cell wall fraction after glucanase
treatment but not after sodium dodecyl sulfate treatment, indicating the
covalent binding of the fusion protein to the cell wall. Display of the
fused protein was further confirmed by immunofluorescence microscopy and
immunoelectron microscopy. The transformant cells could surely grow on
starch as the sole carbon source. These results showed that the
glucoamylase was anchored on the cell wall and displayed as its active
form. This is the first example of an application of cell surface
engineering to utilize and improve the metabolic ability of cells.
Copyright © 1997, American Society for Microbiology
Construction of a starch-utilizing yeast by cell surface engineering
Department of Synthetic Chemistry and Biological Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University, Japan.
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