Display of active beta-glucosidase on the surface of Schizosaccharomyces pombe cells using novel anchor proteins

Here, we demonstrate display of beta-glucosidase (BGL) on the surface of Schizosaccharomyces pombe cells using novel anchor proteins. A total of four candidate anchor proteins (SPBC21D10.06c, SPBC947.04, SPBC19C7.05, and SPBC359.04c) were selected from among almost all of S. pombe membrane proteins. The C-terminus of each anchor protein was genetically fused to the N-terminus of BGL, and the fusion protein was expressed using S. pombe as a host. The highest cell surface-associated BGL activity (107 U/105 cells was achieved with SPBC359.04c serving as the anchor, followed by SPBC947.04 (44 U/105 cells) and SPBC21D10.06c (38 U/105 cells). S. pombe displaying BGL with SPBC359.04c as an anchor showed the highest growth on 2 % cellobiose (10.7 × 107 cells/mL after 41 h of cultivation from an initial density of 0.1 × 107 cells/mL). Additionally, culturing BGL-displaying S. pombe in medium containing cellobiose as the sole carbon source did not affect protein expression, and ethanol fermentation from cellobiose was successfully demonstrated using BGL-displaying S. pombe. This is the first report describing a cell surface display system for the functionalization of S. pombe.