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Updated: Aug 17, 2026

Coculture Analysis of Extracellular Protein Interactions Affecting Insulin Secretion by Pancreatic Beta Cells
Published on: June 15, 2013
Host cell properties and external pH affect proinsulin production by Saccharomyces yeast
D G Kozlov1, N Prahl, B D Efremov
1Institute of Genetics and Selection of Industrial Microorganisms, Moscow, Russia.
Abstract:
The expression of a hybrid gene encoding an alpha-factor prepro leader peptide-miniproinsulin (MPI) fusion [MPI is the same as the LysArg human insulin precursor described by Thim et al. (1986)] was tested in a series of isogenic yeast strains to investigate the influence of some genetic and physiological factors on heterologous production in yeast. We found that: (i) an MF alpha 1 gene disruption in haploid cells, as well as MF alpha 1 gene product expression in diploid cells, do not affect the MPI secretion level; (ii) under conditions of exogenous leucine availability, MPI production is hindered by leucine auxotrophy (a leu2 mutation); (iii) rho- mutations increase the per-cell MPI yield approximately three-fold; (iv) the MPI yield is apparently dependent on the pH of the culture medium: the higher the external pH, the larger the per-cell MPI yield.
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