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Improving the Production of Cofactor-Containing Proteins: Production of Human Hemoglobin in Yeast

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Book cover Recombinant Protein Production in Yeast

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 1923))

Abstract

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.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology and Biological Engineering, Systems and Synthetic Biology, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden

    Olena P. Ishchuk, José L. Martínez & Dina Petranovic

  2. Department of Biotechnology and Biomedicine, Section for Synthetic Biology, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark

    José L. Martínez

  3. Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden

    Dina Petranovic

Authors
  1. Olena P. Ishchuk
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  2. José L. Martínez
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  3. Dina Petranovic
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Correspondence to Dina Petranovic .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biotechnology, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU) and Austrian Centre of Industrial Biotechnology (acib), Vienna, Austria

    Brigitte Gasser

  2. Department of Biotechnology, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU) and Austrian Centre of Industrial Biotechnology (acib), Vienna, Austria

    Diethard Mattanovich

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Ishchuk, O.P., Martínez, J.L., Petranovic, D. (2019). Improving the Production of Cofactor-Containing Proteins: Production of Human Hemoglobin in Yeast. In: Gasser, B., Mattanovich, D. (eds) Recombinant Protein Production in Yeast. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1923. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-9024-5_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-9024-5_11

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