Thermophilic Filamentous Fungus C1-Cell-Cloned SARS-CoV-2-Spike-RBD-Subunit-Vaccine Adjuvanted with Aldydrogel®85 Protects K18-hACE2 Mice against Lethal Virus Challenge.

SARS-CoV-2 is evolving with increased transmission, host range, pathogenicity, and virulence. The original and mutant viruses escape host innate (Interferon) immunity and adaptive (Antibody) immunity, emphasizing unmet needs for high-yield, commercial-scale manufacturing to produce inexpensive vaccines/boosters for global/equitable distribution. We developed DYAI-100A85, a SARS-CoV-2 spike receptor binding domain (RBD) subunit antigen vaccine expressed in genetically modified thermophilic filamentous fungus, Thermothelomyces heterothallica C1, and secreted at high levels into fermentation medium. The RBD-C-tag antigen strongly binds ACE2 receptors in vitro. Alhydrogel®'85'-adjuvanted RDB-C-tag-based vaccine candidate (DYAI-100A85) demonstrates strong immunogenicity, and antiviral efficacy, including in vivo protection against lethal intranasal SARS-CoV-2 (D614G) challenge in human ACE2-transgenic mice. No loss of body weight or adverse events occurred. DYAI-100A85 also demonstrates excellent safety profile in repeat-dose GLP toxicity study. In summary, subcutaneous prime/boost DYAI-100A85 inoculation induces high titers of RBD-specific neutralizing antibodies and protection of hACE2-transgenic mice against lethal challenge with SARS-CoV-2. Given its demonstrated safety, efficacy, and low production cost, vaccine candidate DYAI-100 received regulatory approval to initiate a Phase 1 clinical trial to demonstrate its safety and efficacy in humans.

Scaling up and scaling down the production of galactaric acid from pectin using Trichoderma reesei.

BACKGROUND: Bioconversion of D-galacturonic acid to galactaric (mucic) acid has previously been carried out in small scale (50-1000 mL) cultures, which produce tens of grams of galactaric acid. To obtain larger amounts of biologically produced galactaric acid, the process needed to be scaled up using a readily available technical substrate. Food grade pectin was selected as a readily available source of D-galacturonic acid for conversion to galactaric acid. RESULTS: We demonstrated that the process using Trichoderma reesei QM6a Δgar1 udh can be scaled up from 1 L to 10 and 250 L, replacing pure D-galacturonic acid with commercially available pectin. T. reesei produced 18 g L-1 galactaric acid from food-grade pectin (yield 1.00 g [g D-galacturonate consumed]-1) when grown at 1 L scale, 21 g L-1 galactaric acid (yield 1.11 g [g D-galacturonate consumed]-1) when grown at 10 L scale and 14 g L-1 galactaric acid (yield 0.77 g [g D-galacturonate consumed]-1) when grown at 250 L scale. Initial production rates were similar to those observed in 500 mL cultures with pure D-galacturonate as substrate. Approximately 2.8 kg galactaric acid was precipitated from the 250 L culture, representing a recovery of 77% of the galactaric acid in the supernatant. In addition to scaling up, we also demonstrated that the process could be scaled down to 4 mL for screening of production strains in 24-well plate format. Production of galactaric acid from pectin was assessed for three strains expressing uronate dehydrogenase under alternative promoters and up to 11 g L-1 galactaric acid were produced in the batch process. CONCLUSIONS: The process of producing galactaric acid by bioconversion with T. reesei was demonstrated to be equally efficient using pectin as it was with D-galacturonic acid. The 24-well plate batch process will be useful screening new constructs, but cannot replace process optimisation in bioreactors. Scaling up to 250 L demonstrated good reproducibility with the smaller scale but there was a loss in yield at 250 L which indicated that total biomass extraction and more efficient DSP would both be needed for a large scale process.

Expression of Two Novel ß-Glucosidases from Chaetomium atrobrunneum in Trichoderma reesei and Characterization of the Heterologous Protein Products.

Two novel GH3 family thermostable ß-glucosidases from the filamentous fungus Chaetomium atrobrunneum (CEL3a and CEL3b) were expressed in Trichoderma reesei, purified by two-step ion exchange chromatography, and characterized. Both enzymes were active over a wide range of pH as compared to Neurospora crassa ß-glucosidase GH3-3, which was also expressed in T. reesei and purified. The optimum temperature of both C. atrobrunneum enzymes was around 60 °C at pH 5, and both enzymes had better thermal and pH stability and higher resistance to metallic compounds and to glucose inhibition than GH3-3. They also showed higher activity against oligosaccharides composed of glucose units and linked with ß-1,4-glycosidic bonds and moreover, had higher affinity for cellotriose over cellobiose. In hydrolysis tests against Avicel cellulose and steam-exploded sugarcane bagasse, performed at 45 °C, particularly the CEL3a enzyme performed similarly to N. crassa GH3-3 ß-glucosidase. Taking into account the thermal stability of the C. atrobrunneum ß-glucosidases, they both represent promising alternatives as enzyme mixture components for improved cellulose saccharification at elevated temperatures.

Identification of novel isoprene synthases through genome mining and expression in Escherichia coli.

Isoprene is a naturally produced hydrocarbon emitted into the atmosphere by green plants. It is also a constituent of synthetic rubber and a potential biofuel. Microbial production of isoprene can become a sustainable alternative to the prevailing chemical production of isoprene from petroleum. In this work, sequence homology searches were conducted to find novel isoprene synthases. Candidate sequences were functionally expressed in Escherichia coli and the desired enzymes were identified based on an isoprene production assay. The activity of three enzymes was shown for the first time: expression of the candidate genes from Ipomoea batatas, Mangifera indica, and Elaeocarpus photiniifolius resulted in isoprene formation. The Ipomoea batatas isoprene synthase produced the highest amounts of isoprene in all experiments, exceeding the isoprene levels obtained by the previously known Populus alba and Pueraria montana isoprene synthases that were studied in parallel as controls.

Enabling Low Cost Biopharmaceuticals: A Systematic Approach to Delete Proteases from a Well-Known Protein Production Host Trichoderma reesei.

The filamentous fungus Trichoderma reesei has tremendous capability to secrete proteins. Therefore, it would be an excellent host for producing high levels of therapeutic proteins at low cost. Developing a filamentous fungus to produce sensitive therapeutic proteins requires that protease secretion is drastically reduced. We have identified 13 major secreted proteases that are related to degradation of therapeutic antibodies, interferon alpha 2b, and insulin like growth factor. The major proteases observed were aspartic, glutamic, subtilisin-like, and trypsin-like proteases. The seven most problematic proteases were sequentially removed from a strain to develop it for producing therapeutic proteins. After this the protease activity in the supernatant was dramatically reduced down to 4% of the original level based upon a casein substrate. When antibody was incubated in the six protease deletion strain supernatant, the heavy chain remained fully intact and no degradation products were observed. Interferon alpha 2b and insulin like growth factor were less stable in the same supernatant, but full length proteins remained when incubated overnight, in contrast to the original strain. As additional benefits, the multiple protease deletions have led to faster strain growth and higher levels of total protein in the culture supernatant.

Selection from industrial lager yeast strains of variants with improved fermentation performance in very-high-gravity worts.

There are economic and other advantages if the fermentable sugar concentration in industrial brewery fermentations can be increased from that of currently used high-gravity (ca. 14 to 17 degrees P [degrees Plato]) worts into the very-high-gravity (VHG; 18 to 25 degrees P) range. Many industrial strains of brewer's yeast perform poorly in VHG worts, exhibiting decreased growth, slow and incomplete fermentations, and low viability of the yeast cropped for recycling into subsequent fermentations. A new and efficient method for selecting variant cells with improved performance in VHG worts is described. In this new method, mutagenized industrial yeast was put through a VHG wort fermentation and then incubated anaerobically in the resulting beer while maintaining the alpha-glucoside concentration at about 10 to 20 g.liter(-1) by slowly feeding the yeast maltose or maltotriose until most of the cells had died. When survival rates fell to 1 to 10 cells per 10(6) original cells, a high proportion (up to 30%) of survivors fermented VHG worts 10 to 30% faster and more completely (residual sugars lower by 2 to 8 g.liter(-1)) than the parent strains, but the sedimentation behavior and profiles of yeast-derived flavor compounds of the survivors were similar to those of the parent strains.

Improved fermentation performance of a lager yeast after repair of its AGT1 maltose and maltotriose transporter genes.

The use of more concentrated, so-called high-gravity and very-high-gravity (VHG) brewer's worts for the manufacture of beer has economic and environmental advantages. However, many current strains of brewer's yeasts ferment VHG worts slowly and incompletely, leaving undesirably large amounts of maltose and especially maltotriose in the final beers. alpha-Glucosides are transported into Saccharomyces yeasts by several transporters, including Agt1, which is a good carrier of both maltose and maltotriose. The AGT1 genes of brewer's ale yeast strains encode functional transporters, but the AGT1 genes of the lager strains studied contain a premature stop codon and do not encode functional transporters. In the present work, one or more copies of the AGT1 gene of a lager strain were repaired with DNA sequence from an ale strain and put under the control of a constitutive promoter. Compared to the untransformed strain, the transformants with repaired AGT1 had higher maltose transport activity, especially after growth on glucose (which represses endogenous alpha-glucoside transporter genes) and higher ratios of maltotriose transport activity to maltose transport activity. They fermented VHG (24 degrees Plato) wort faster and more completely, producing beers containing more ethanol and less residual maltose and maltotriose. The growth and sedimentation behaviors of the transformants were similar to those of the untransformed strain, as were the profiles of yeast-derived volatile aroma compounds in the beers.

Oxygen dependence of metabolic fluxes and energy generation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae CEN.PK113-1A.

BACKGROUND: The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is able to adjust to external oxygen availability by utilizing both respirative and fermentative metabolic modes. Adjusting the metabolic mode involves alteration of the intracellular metabolic fluxes that are determined by the cell's multilevel regulatory network. Oxygen is a major determinant of the physiology of S. cerevisiae but understanding of the oxygen dependence of intracellular flux distributions is still scarce. RESULTS: Metabolic flux distributions of S. cerevisiae CEN.PK113-1A growing in glucose-limited chemostat cultures at a dilution rate of 0.1 h-1 with 20.9%, 2.8%, 1.0%, 0.5% or 0.0% O2 in the inlet gas were quantified by 13C-MFA. Metabolic flux ratios from fractional [U-13C]glucose labelling experiments were used to solve the underdetermined MFA system of central carbon metabolism of S. cerevisiae.While ethanol production was observed already in 2.8% oxygen, only minor differences in the flux distribution were observed, compared to fully aerobic conditions. However, in 1.0% and 0.5% oxygen the respiratory rate was severely restricted, resulting in progressively reduced fluxes through the TCA cycle and the direction of major fluxes to the fermentative pathway. A redistribution of fluxes was observed in all branching points of central carbon metabolism. Yet only when oxygen provision was reduced to 0.5%, was the biomass yield exceeded by the yields of ethanol and CO2. Respirative ATP generation provided 59% of the ATP demand in fully aerobic conditions and still a substantial 25% in 0.5% oxygenation. An extensive redistribution of fluxes was observed in anaerobic conditions compared to all the aerobic conditions. Positive correlation between the transcriptional levels of metabolic enzymes and the corresponding fluxes in the different oxygenation conditions was found only in the respirative pathway. CONCLUSION: 13C-constrained MFA enabled quantitative determination of intracellular fluxes in conditions of different redox challenges without including redox cofactors in metabolite mass balances. A redistribution of fluxes was observed not only for respirative, respiro-fermentative and fermentative metabolisms, but also for cells grown with 2.8%, 1.0% and 0.5% oxygen. Although the cellular metabolism was respiro-fermentative in each of these low oxygen conditions, the actual amount of oxygen available resulted in different contributions through respirative and fermentative pathways.

Central carbon metabolism of Saccharomyces cerevisiae in anaerobic, oxygen-limited and fully aerobic steady-state conditions and following a shift to anaerobic conditions.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae CEN.PK113-1A was grown in glucose-limited chemostat culture with 0%, 0.5%, 1.0%, 2.8% or 20.9% O2 in the inlet gas (D=0.10 h(-1), pH 5, 30 degrees C) to determine the effects of oxygen on 17 metabolites and 69 genes related to central carbon metabolism. The concentrations of tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA) metabolites and all glycolytic metabolites except 2-phosphoglycerate+3-phosphoglycerate and phosphoenolpyruvate were higher in anaerobic than in fully aerobic conditions. Provision of only 0.5-1% O2 reduced the concentrations of most metabolites, as compared with anaerobic conditions. Transcription of most genes analyzed was reduced in 0%, 0.5% or 1.0% O2 relative to cells grown in 2.8% or 20.9% O2. Ethanol production was observed with 2.8% or less O2. After steady-state analysis in defined oxygen concentrations, the conditions were switched from aerobic to anaerobic. Metabolite and transcript levels were monitored for up to 96 h after the transition, and this showed that more than 30 h was required for the cells to fully adapt to anaerobiosis. Levels of metabolites of upper glycolysis and the TCA cycle increased following the transition to anaerobic conditions, whereas those of metabolites of lower glycolysis generally decreased. Gene regulation was more complex, with some genes showing transient upregulation or downregulation during the adaptation to anaerobic conditions.

Monitoring yeast physiology during very high gravity wort fermentations by frequent analysis of gene expression.

Brewer's yeast experiences constantly changing environmental conditions during wort fermentation. Cells can rapidly adapt to changing surroundings by transcriptional regulation. Changes in genomic expression can indicate the physiological condition of yeast in the brewing process. We monitored, using the transcript analysis with aid of affinity capture (TRAC) method, the expression of some 70 selected genes relevant to wort fermentation at high frequency through 9-10 day fermentations of very high gravity wort (25 degrees P) by an industrial lager strain. Rapid changes in expression occurred during the first hours of fermentations for several genes, e.g. genes involved in maltose metabolism, glycolysis and ergosterol synthesis were strongly upregulated 2-6 h after pitching. By the time yeast growth had stopped (72 h) and total sugars had dropped by about 50%, most selected genes had passed their highest expression levels and total mRNA was less than half the levels during growth. There was an unexpected upregulation of some genes of oxygen-requiring pathways during the final fermentation stages. For five genes, expression of both the Saccharomyces cerevisiae and S. bayanus components of the hybrid lager strain were determined. Expression profiles were either markedly different (ADH1, ERG3) or very similar (MALx1, ILV5, ATF1) between these two components. By frequent analysis of a chosen set of genes, TRAC provided a detailed and dynamic picture of the physiological state of the fermenting yeast. This approach offers a possible way to monitor and optimize the performance of yeast in a complex process environment.

Characterization of secretory genes ypt1/yptA and nsf1/nsfA from two filamentous fungi: induction of secretory pathway genes of Trichoderma reesei under secretion stress conditions.

Two genes involved in protein secretion, encoding the Rab protein YPT1/YPTA and the general fusion factor NSFI/NSFA, were characterized from two filamentous fungi, Trichoderma reesei and Aspergillus niger var. awamori. The isolated genes showed a high level of conservation with their Saccharomyces cerevisiae and mammalian counterparts, and T. reesei ypt1 was shown to complement yeast Ypt1p depletion. The transcriptional regulation of the T. reesei ypt1, nsf1, and sar1 genes, involved in protein trafficking, was studied with mycelia treated with the folding inhibitor dithiothreitol (DTT) and with brefeldin A, which inhibits membrane traffic between the endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi complex. The well-known inducer of the yeast and T. reesei unfolded protein response (UPR), DTT, induced the nsf1 gene and the protein disulfide isomerase gene, pdi1, in both of the experiments, and sar1 mRNA increased in only one experiment under strong UPR induction. The ypt1 mRNA did not show a clear increase during DTT treatment. Brefeldin A strongly induced pdi1 and all of the intracellular trafficking genes studied. These results suggest the possibility that the whole secretory pathway of T. reesei could be induced at the transcriptional level by stress responses caused by protein accumulation in the secretory pathway.

The effects of drugs inhibiting protein secretion in the filamentous fungus Trichoderma reesei. Evidence for down-regulation of genes that encode secreted proteins in the stressed cells.

To study the mechanisms of protein secretion as well as the cellular responses to impaired protein folding and transport in filamentous fungi, we have analyzed Trichoderma reesei cultures treated with chemical agents that interfere with these processes, dithiothreitol, brefeldin A, and the Ca(2+)-ionophore A23187. The effects of the drugs on the kinetics of protein synthesis and transport were characterized using metabolic labeling of synthesized proteins. Cellobiohydrolase I (CBHI, Cel7A), the major secreted cellulase, was analyzed as a model protein. Northern analysis showed that under conditions where protein transport was inhibited (treatments with dithiothreitol or brefeldin A) the unfolded protein response pathway was activated. The active form of the hac1 mRNA that mediates unfolded protein response signaling was induced, followed by induction of the foldase and chaperone genes pdi1 and bip1. Concomitant with the activation of the unfolded protein response pathway, the transcript levels of genes encoding secreted proteins, like cellulases and xylanases, were drastically decreased, suggesting a novel type of feedback mechanism activated in response to impairment in protein folding or transport (repression under secretion stress (RESS)). By studying expression of the reporter gene lacZ under cbh1 promoters of different length, it was shown that the feedback response was mediated through the cellulase promoter.