Improving the Production of Cofactor-Containing Proteins: Production of Human Hemoglobin in Yeast
Book chapter, 2019

Human hemoglobin is an essential protein, whose main function as an oxygen carrier is indispensable for life. Hemoglobin is a cofactor-containing protein with heme as prosthetic group. Same as in humans, heme is synthesized in many organisms in a complex pathway involving two cellular compartments (mitochondria and cytosol), which is tightly regulated. Red blood cells (erythrocytes) are specialized and adapted for production and transport of the hemoglobin molecules. In addition to oxygen binding, hemoglobin can participate in a variety of chemical reactions by its iron and heme and may become toxic when released from erythrocytes. Hemoglobin is a major target for the development of blood substitutes/oxygen carriers, and therefore its microbial production is attractive, as it may provide a cheap and reliable source of human hemoglobin. Significant efforts have been dedicated to this task for the last three decades. Moreover since the first generation of cell-free blood substitutes based on unmodified hemoglobin failed human trials, mutant forms became of great interest.In this chapter we summarize the existing knowledge about human hemoglobin, challenges of its microbial production, and its improvement, with a particular focus upon yeast as production host.

Recombinant protein production

Hemoglobin

Metabolic engineering

Yeast cell factories

Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Heme

Author

Olena Ishchuk

Chalmers, Biology and Biological Engineering, Systems and Synthetic Biology

Jose Luis Martinez Ruiz

Chalmers, Biology and Biological Engineering, Systems and Synthetic Biology

Technical University of Denmark (DTU)

Dina Petranovic Nielsen

Chalmers, Biology and Biological Engineering, Systems and Synthetic Biology

Novo Nordisk Foundation

Methods in Molecular Biology

10643745 (ISSN) 1940-6029 (eISSN)

Vol. 1923 243-264

Subject Categories

Cell Biology

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Medical Biotechnology (with a focus on Cell Biology (including Stem Cell Biology), Molecular Biology, Microbiology, Biochemistry or Biopharmacy)

DOI

10.1007/978-1-4939-9024-5_11

PubMed

30737744

More information

Latest update

7/12/2024