Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 7, 2025
Design and Implementation of an Automated Illuminating, Culturing, and Sampling System for Microbial Optogenetic Applications
Published on: February 19, 2017
Design and Characterization of an Optogenetic System in Pichia pastoris
Zhiqian Wang1, Yunjun Yan1, Houjin Zhang1
1Department of Biotechnology, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, MOE Key Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics, Wuhan 430074, People's Republic of China.
Abstract:
Pichia pastoris (P. pastoris) is the workhorse in the commercial production of many valuable proteins. Traditionally, the regulation of gene expression in P. pastoris is achieved through induction by methanol which is toxic and flammable. The emerging optogenetic technology provides an alternative and cleaner gene regulation method. Based on the photosensitive protein EL222, we designed a novel "one-component" optogenetic system. The highest induction ratio was 79.7-fold under blue light compared to the group under darkness. After switching cells from dark to blue illumination, the system induced expression in just 1 h. Only 2 h after the system was switched back to the darkness from blue illumination, the target gene expression was inactivated 5-fold. The induction intensity of the optogenetic system is positively correlated with the dose and periodicity of blue illumination, and it has good spatial control. These results provide the first credible case of optogenetically induced protein expression in P. pastoris.
