A simple and effective method to remove pigments from heterologous secretory proteins expressed in Pichia pastoris

Abstract

• High-level secretion expression (~250 mg L-1) of divalent nanobodies in Pichia.

• Detergent washing effectively removes yellow pigment from secreted nanobodies.

• Nanobodies after pigment removal remain biologically active.

Keywords

Detergent / Divalent nanobody / Lauryldimethylamine N-oxide / Neutralizing antibody / Pichia pigment / SARS-CoV-2 / Secretion expression / Spike receptor-binding domain / Synthetic nanobody

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Funding

National Natural Science Foundation of China(32201000); the Strategic Priority Research Program of CAS(XDB37020204); Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality(22ZR1468300)