Optimized expression in Pichia pastoris eliminates common protein contaminants from subsequent His-tag purification

A weakness of using immobilized metal affinity chromatography (IMAC) to purify recombinant proteins expressed in Pichia pastoris is the co-purification of native proteins that exhibit high affinities for Ni-IMAC. We have determined the elution profiles of P. pastoris proteins and have examined the native proteins that co-purify when eluting with 100 mM imidazole. Four major contaminants were identified: mitochondrial alcohol dehydrogenase isozyme III (mADH), nucleotide excision repair endonuclease, and the hypothetical proteins TPHA_0L01390 and TDEL_0B02190 which are homologous proteins derived from Tetrapisispora phaffii and Torulaspora delbrueckii, respectively. A new P. pastoris expression strain was engineered that eliminated the predominant contaminant, mADH, by gene disruption. The total amount of protein contaminants was reduced by 55 % without effecting cell growth. The present study demonstrates the feasibility of using a proteomic approach to facilitate bioprocess optimization.