Yeast systems for the commercial production of heterologous proteins

Yeasts are attractive hosts for the production of heterologous proteins. Unlike prokaryotic systems, their eukaryotic subcellular organization enables them to carry out many of the post-translational folding, processing and modification events required to produce "authentic" and bioactive mammalian proteins. In addition, they retain the advantages of a unicellular microorganism, with respect to rapid growth and ease of genetic manipulation. The vast majority of yeast expression work has focused on the well-characterized baker's yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. However, with the development of DNA transformation technologies, a growing number of non-Saccharomyces yeasts are becoming available as hosts for recombinant polypeptide production. These include Hansenula polymorpha, Kluyveromyces lactis, Pichia pastoris, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, Schwanniomyces occidentalis and Yarrowia lipolytica. The performance of these alternative yeast expression systems is reviewed here relative to S. cerevisiae, and the advantages and limitations of these systems are discussed.