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Aerobic expression of Vitreoscilla hemoglobin improves the growth performance of CHO‐K1 cells
Author(s) -
Juárez Mariana,
GonzálezDe la Rosa Claudia H.,
Memún Elisa,
Sigala JuanCarlos,
Lara Alvaro R.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
biotechnology journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.144
H-Index - 84
eISSN - 1860-7314
pISSN - 1860-6768
DOI - 10.1002/biot.201600438
Subject(s) - green fluorescent protein , transfection , hemoglobin , cytoplasm , cell growth , cell culture , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , plasmid , metabolism , chinese hamster ovary cell , biochemistry , cellular respiration , cell , chemistry , gene , mitochondrion , genetics
Inefficient carbon metabolism is a relevant issue during the culture of mammalian cells for the production of biopharmaceuticals. Therefore, cell engineering strategies to improve the metabolic and growth performance of cell lines are needed. The expression of Vitreoscilla stercoraria hemoglobin (VHb) has been shown to significantly reduce overflow metabolism and improve the aerobic growth of bacteria. However, the effects of VHb on mammalian cells have been rarely studied. Here, the impact of VHb on growth and lactate accumulation during CHO‐K1 cell culture was investigated. For this purpose, CHO‐K1 cells were transfected with plasmids carrying the vgb or gfp gene to express VHb or green fluorescence protein (GFP), respectively. VHb expression increased the specific growth rate and biomass yields on glucose and glutamine by 60 %, and reduced the amount of lactate produced per cell by 40 %, compared to the GFP‐expression controls. Immunofluorescence microscopy showed that VHb is distributed in the cytoplasm and organelles, which support the hypothesis that VHb could serve as an oxygen carrier, enhancing aerobic respiration. These results are useful for the development of better producing cell lines for industrial applications.