Acquisition of flocculation phenotype by Kluyveromyces marxianus when overexpre...

• Author(s): Almeida, Catarina ; Queirós, Odília ; Wheals, Alan ; Teixeira, J. A. ; Ferreira, Pedro Moradas
• Date: 2003
• Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/1822/1609
• Origin: RepositóriUM - Universidade do Minho
• Subject(s): Flocculation; Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase; Kluyveromyces
• Document Type: Article
• Language: English

Description

The use of flocculating yeast strains has been considered as a convenient approach to obtain high cell densities in bioreactors with increasing productivity in continuous operations. In Kluyveromyces marxianus ATTC 10022, the GAP1 gene encodes an isoform of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase–p37—that is accumulated in the cell wall and is involved in flocculation. To test the use of p37 as a tool for engineering Kluyveromyces cells to display a flocculation phenotype, K. marxianus CCT 3172 was transformed with an expression vector containing GAP1. This vector is based on the pY37 previously described, harbouring a S11 Kluyveromyces origin of replication, and the expression of GAP1 is under the control of GAL1. Kluyveromyces cells overexpressing GAP1 acquired a flocculent phenotype together with the accumulation of p37 in the cell wall. The results support the use of GAP1 gene as a molecular tool for inducing flocculation.