Development of a bisphenol A-adsorbing yeast by surface display of the Kluyveromyces yellow enzyme on Pichia pastoris

A novel surface-engineered strain of yeast Pichia pastoris was constructed that displays at its surface Kluyveromyces lactis Yellow Enzyme (KYE) fused to the C-terminal half of Saccharomyces cerevisiae alpha-agglutinin. The expression of the fusion protein was controlled by the AOX1-promoter. The new strain showed an increased sorption of the xenoestrogen Bisphenol A (BPA). It was shown that sorption of BPA depended on the presence of methanol in the growth medium and on the pH of the binding assays. The binding kinetics were typical for binding at a surface. The present results demonstrate that the alpha-agglutinin surface display system can be used in the yeast P. pastoris.