The aim of the thesis was to characterize chosen expression vectors used in biotechnologically important bacterial species, Corynebacterium glutamicum, and to test their use in studies of promoter activity control by sigma factors of RNA polymerase. Different properties of these vectors (level of expression of the cloned gene, leaky expression without inducer, dependence of expression level on inducer concentration and cell population homogeneity) were found by determination of expression level of the model gfpuv gene by fluorescence intensity assay of the produced protein and by gfpuv-expressing C. glutamicum cell population analysis using flow cytometry. The vector pEC-XT99A was chosen for testing the bi-plasmid system for assignment of a sigma factor to the chosen promoter. Although the level of expression provided by pEC-XT99A was not high, the vector showed no leaky expression, expression from the vector was comparable for a wide range of IPTG concentrations and the cell population was homogenous concerning the gene expression. Using pEC-XT99A from which individual stress sig genes were expressed, the σD factor was clearly assigned to the up-to-now unknown Pcg0420 promoter. Another vector for isolation and purification of C. glutamicum proteins was used to express the C. glutamicum sigM gene and to...

L'acide succinique est une molécule linéaire, bi-fonctionnelle qui possède de nombreuses applications alimentaires, chimiques et pharmaceutiques etc. Les connaissances de la régulation des voies métaboliques d’organismes d’intérêt industriel, le génie génétique et le génie des procédés ont permis à des microorganismes recombinants (C. glutamicum) de produire jusqu'à 100 g.L-1 de succinate avec des rendements intéressants. C. glutamicum est largement connu comme l'un des meilleurs producteurs industriels de nombreux acides aminés (glutamate, lysine etc.). Cependant, des études de C. glutamicum ont démontré sa capacité à produire plusieurs acides organiques (succinate, lactate, acétate, etc.). Au cours de ce travail, nous avons supprimé le gène ldhA de C. glutamicum en utilisant le plasmide pk19mobsacBΔldhA. Nous avons démontré que la délétion de ce gène n’avait pas d’incidence sur la capacité de croissance de la bactérie. Par ailleurs, nous avons étudié les effets de l’oxygénation sur la réponse physiologique de C. glutamicum 2262ΔldhA à travers des expériences de cultures en fioles en verre lisses en imposant différentes conditions de kLa. Les résultats ont montré que des faibles kLa (<33 h-1) favorisaient la production d’acides organiques tandis que les kLa élevés amélioraient surtout l’accumulation de la biomasse. Nous avons également mis en œuvre un procédé de production très efficace avec une phase de transition aérobiose-anaérobiose basée sur la régulation de la concentration en oxygène dissous. Avec ce procédé, 327 mM de succinate avec un rendement de 0,94 mole par mole de glucose ont pu être produits avec le mutant ΔldhA. En outre, nous avons vérifié l’efficacité de ce nouveau procédé en l’appliquant à la souche sauvage qui normalement produit 10 fois plus de lactate que de succinate. Ces résultats ont montré une production de 793 mM (94 g.L-1) de succinate et 785 mM (71 g.L-1) de lactate. Ils soulignent ainsi, l'importance de la phase de transition aérobiose-anaérobiose lors des procédés de production de succinate par des bactéries aérobie facultatif. Enfin, des expériences en système bi-étagé ont montré que C. glutamicum 2262 pouvait s’adapter très facilement aux gradients et hétérogénéités en oxygène dissous dans les cultures à grande échelle / Succinic acid is a linear and bi-functional molecule that has several practical applications including food, chemical and pharmaceutical industries. Thanks to increased knowledge on metabolism and pathway regulation of industrially relevant organisms, to the development of performant genetic tools and process engineering, recombinants strains (Escherichia coli, Corynebacterium glutamicum etc.) have been reported to be able to produce up to 100 g.L-1 with interesting yields (> 1.5 mole per mole glucose). C. glutamicum is well known as one of the best industrial producers of numerous amino acids (glutamate, lysine etc.). However, recent studies of C. glutamicum revealed its capability to produce several organic acids (succinate, lactate, acetate, etc.). In this work, we have deleted the ldhA gene of C. glutamicum by using a plasmid vector pk19mobsacBΔldhA. We demonstrated that the mutant and the wild type presented similar growth kinetics with maximal growth rate of about 0.7 h-1. We studied also the effects of oxygenation on C. glutamicum 2262 ΔldhA through cultures at different kLa and it appeared that lower kLa (<33 h-1) favored organic acids production wile higher favored bacterial growth. Furthermore, we designed a tri-phasic process with transition phase by regulation of dissolved oxygen concentration which resulted in the production of 327 mM of succinic acid with a yield of 0.94 mole per mole glucose. The application of the designed process to C. glutamicum 2262 wild type that normally produces lactate with a lactate to succinate production ratio up to 13.3 mol.mol-1, resulted in succinate concentration up to 793 mM (94 g.L-1) and 785 mM (71 g.L-1) of lactate. The succinate production yield was 1.1 mole per mole glucose and acetate production was negligible. These results underlined the importance of aerobic to anaerobic transition in succinate production processes of facultative aerobes and the necessity to engineer not only the microorganism but also the process. Finally, scale-down study have demonstrated the robustness of C. glutamicum against the oxygen gradients in bioreactor

Today, recombinant expression of proteins is used for a variety of purposes. One of these is the production of allergens, which are vital components in allergy diagnostics. However, traditional expression systems such as ​Escherichia coli​ and ​Pichia pastoris​ might not have the capacity to express all proteins of interest. Thermo Fisher, which is a leading producer of allergy tests, has requested an evaluation of different microorganisms and their capacity for heterologous protein expression in order to expand their existing toolbox of expression systems. This summary was made through a literature study, where twelve organisms were evaluated. Six eukaryotic and six prokaryotic expression systems are compared based on their ability to properly glycosylate protein, need for specific culture conditions, safety, protease activity, duration, protein yield and protein solubility. The prokaryotic systems – Corynebacterium glutamicum​ , ​Lactococcus lactis​ , ​Pseudomonas fluorescens​ , Pseudoalteromonas haloplanktis​ , ​Ralstonia eutropha​ and ​Streptomyces lividans​ – are characterized by being easy to cultivate, operating in different temperature ranges and providing relatively high yields of recombinant protein. The eukaryotic systems – ​Aspergillus fungi, the green algae ​Chlamydomonas reinhardtii​ , the yeast ​Hansenula polymorpha​ , the parasite ​Leishmania tarentolae​ , the moss ​Physcomitrella patens​ and suspension-based plant cells – all have very different morphology and properties. In comparison with the prokaryotic systems, it can be concluded that they are generally better at folding and providing the correct glycosylation patterns for mammalian and plant proteins. However, they require more time and effort to establish a competent cell line. Furthermore, the resulting protein yield is usually less than for the prokaryotic systems. The conclusion can be drawn that no expression system is perfect. The solution is a toolbox, containing various expression systems and vector systems, providing the basis for successful expression of all kinds of complex proteins. Based on the evaluation of expression systems in this review, such toolbox can be obtained.

The loss of efficiency and performance of bioprocesses on scale-up is well known, but not fully understood. This work addresses this problem, by studying the effect of some fermentation gradients (pH, glucose and oxygen) at a larger scale in a bench-scale two compartment reactor (PFR + STR) using the cadaverine-producing recombinant bacterium, Corynebacterium glutamicum DM1945 Δact3 Ptuf-ldcC_OPT. The initial scale down strategy increased the magnitude of these gradients by only increasing the mean cell residence time in the plug flow reactor (τ_PFR). The cell growth and product related rate constants were compared as the τ_PFR was increased; differences were significant in some cases, but only up to 2 min residence time. For example, losses in cadaverine productivity when compared to the control fed-batch fermentation on average for the τ_PFR of 1 min, 2 min and 5 min were 25 %, 42 % and 46 % respectively. This indicated that the increasing the τ_PFR alone does not necessarily increase the magnitude of fermentation gradients. The new scale-down strategy developed here, increased the magnitude of fermentation gradients by not only increasing the τ_PFR, but also considering the mean frequency at which the bacterial cells entered the PFR section (f_m). The f_m was kept constant by reducing the broth volume in the STR. Hence, the bacterial cells also spent shorter times in the well mixed STR, as the τ_PFR was increased (hypothesised as giving the bacterial cells less time to recover the non-ideal PFR section of the SDR). On adoption of this strategy cadaverine productivity decreases for the τ_PFR of 1 min, 2 min and 5 min were 25 %, 32 % and 53 % respectively. Thus, highlighting that loss in performance is most likely to occur as the magnitude of heterogeneity within the fermentation environment increases. However, Corynebacterium glutamicum DM1945 Δact3 Ptuf-ldcC_OPT did show some resilience in its biomass productivity. It was only marginally affected in the harshest of conditions simulated here.

Des immunoadsorbeurs ont été développés à partir de disques CIM monolithiques pour l'analyse de biomarqueurs impliqués dans des maladies cardio-vasculaires. Les colonnes développées ont permis d'isoler sélectivement la myoglobine et le NT-proBNP du sérum humain. Les colonnes anti-NT-proBNP ont permis l'isolation quantitative du NT-proBNP (R2=0,998) à des concentrations jusqu'à 750 amol/μL de sérum.<br />Six matériaux à accès restreints ont été évalués en fonction de leur aptitude à exclure l'hémoglobine d'hémolysats sanguins. Des injections à différents pH ont montré que la rétention de l'hémoglobine est drastiquement restreinte à pH 10,7. En raison d'une bonne stabilité à pH basique, la colonne polymérique Biotrap 500 MS RAM a été retenue pour l'extraction d'antibiotiques d'hémolysats sanguins. Des extractions quantitatives d'analytes à faibles concentrations (200 pg/μL) ont été réalisées sans effet mémoire d'hémoglobine sur la colonne.<br />Un nouveau système 2D-HPLC-ESI-MS/MS pour l'analyse protéomique a été développé. Le système est composé d'une séparation par RP-HPLC à pH 10,0, suivie d'une séparation par IP-RP-HPLC à pH 2,1. Ce nouveau système a été comparé à un système conventionnel SCX x IP-RP-HPLC. L'orthogonalité des méthodes de séparation est plus élevée dans l'approche SCX x IP-RP-HPLC que dans le schéma RP x IP-RP-HPLC. Cependant, en raison d'une meilleure distribution des peptides et d'une meilleure efficacité de séparation, le système RP x IP-RP-HPLC permet d'identifier significativement plus de peptides. Les deux approches sont complémentaires et une combinaison des deux systèmes permet d'identifier plus de peptides que des analyses répétées par un système unique.