Expression of a high sweetness and heat-resistant mutant of sweet-tasting protein, monellin, in Pichia pastoris with a constitutive GAPDH promoter and modified N-terminus.

Abstract

To improve the stability and sweetness of the sweet-tasting protein, monellin, by using site-directed mutagenesis and a Pichia pastoris expression system with a GAPDH constitutive promoter. Both wild-type and E2N mutant of single-chain monellin gene were cloned into the PGAPZαA vector and expressed in Pichia pastoris. The majority of the secreted recombinant protein, at 0.15g/l supernatant, was monellin. This was purified by Sephadex G50 chromatography. The sweetness threshold of wild-type and E2N were 30μg/ml and 20μg/ml, respectively. Compared with the proteins expressed in Escherichia coli, the thermostability of both proteins was improved. The N-terminal sequence is determinative for the sweetness of the proteins expressed in yeast strains. Site-directed mutagenesis, modification of the N-terminus of monellin, and without the need of methanol induction in P. pastoris expression system, indicate the possibility for large-scale production of this sweet-tasting protein.