OPTIMIZING HETEROLOGOUS EXPRESSION IN SACCHAROMYCES YEAST IN MICROGRAVITY BASED
ON THE EXAMPLE OF HEPATITIS B SURFACE ANTIGEN SYNTHESIS (ANTIGEN)
Research Area: Vaccine Development
Expedition(s): 13- 18
Principal Investigator(s): ● Grigoriy Y. Scherbakov, MD, Biopreparat, Moscow, Russia
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
The Optimizing Heterologous Expression in Saccharomyces Yeast in Microgravity based on the
Example of Hepatitis B Surface Antigen Synthesis (Antigen) investigation comparatively studies
the specifics of the heterologous expression of the HBsAg gene of the Hepatitis B virus in the
yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae in microgravity and Earth. This investigation establishes
methods for optimizing synthesis in order to obtain high-quality strains of producer yeasts of
the HBs antigen to create an effective vaccine for Hepatitis B.
EARTH BENEFITS
Studying the specifics and factors of HBs-antigen gene expression stability in yeast cells is
relevant to optimize the large-scale
production of a yeast recombinant
vaccine for Hepatitis B.
SPACE BENEFITS
The results obtained demonstrate the
possibility of the suitable existence of
microorganisms aboard spacecraft as a
part of biotechnological factories that
in the future will accompany extended
interplanetary flights. The space
investigations demonstrated that
microorganism cultures with the
needed properties can be selected both
on Earth and in space.RESULTS
An analysis of the data obtained confirmed the feasibility of applying new methods to line
breeding, super-producers of the HBs-antigen. Based on the data obtained, the following
conclusions can be drawn: the stability of HBs-antigen characteristics does not depend on
storage time on Earth or in space conditions, and it is mainly determined by strain properties
and experiment design conditions.
This investigation is complete; however additional results are pending publication.
Antigen experiment Bioekologiya kit aboard the International
Space Station. Roscosmos image.