Screening of multi-copy mannanase recombinants of Pichia pastoris based on colony size

Pichia pastoris pGAP (glyceraldehyde dehydrogenase promoter) expression system was widely used for the expression and production of heterologous proteins. Screening multi-copy recombinants was an effective strategy to improve the heterologous protein production in P. pastoris. Because multiple gene insertion events occurred with a low frequency, hundreds to thousands of antibiotic-resistance recombinants need to be screened. The common way of improving screening efficiency was to increase antibiotic concentration in screening plates. Here we developed a screening method by selecting small colonies from low-concentration antibiotic screening plates. This strategy greatly improved the probability of obtaining multi-copy mannanase gene (man) recombinants and it could replace the common strategy by increasing antibiotic concentration in screening plates. The further study in liquid shake flask cultures revealed that cell concentrations, growth rates and substrate consumption rates of recombinants gradually decreased with the increase in man copy number. This indicated that such a screening strategy was effective to screen multi-copy recombinants based on colony size.