Yeast strains genetically engineered to produce wheat gluten proteins

Abstract

A strain of yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been developed which, when grown under defined culture conditions, will produce protein indistinguishable from wheat gluten protein. This new yeast strain was developed by introducing a specially constructed autonomously replicating extrachromosomal genetic element, gluten plasmid pAY31, into the parent yeast strain. This plasmid is a circular DNA molecule, constructed by enzymic fusion of the following elements: (1) the E. coli plasmid pUC8 wherein the EcoRI site has been removed; (2) the autonomously replicating yeast sequence ARS1; (3) the yeast URA3 gene; (4) a modified yeast iso-1-cytochromic gene retaining the promoter region and transcription termination sequence, and wherein the protein coding sequences have been deleted and replaced with a synthetic EcoRI restriction site, the site at which the wheat gluten protein gene is cloned; and (5) a fragment of a wheat gluten protein gene which includes the amino acid coding region, translation initiation and termination sequence, and short flanking nucleotide sequences, but excludes transcription initiation and termination sequences. Wheat gluten protein synthesized by the new yeast strain can be used to supplement wheat and non-wheat flours for baked products and for use in diagnosis and treatment of illness in humans caused by wheat gluten proteins.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1 Field of the Invention

This invention relates to the use of recombinant DNA technology to produce yeast strains that will produce wheat gluten proteins and to plasmids which include genes coding for wheat gluten proteins.

2. Description of the Art

Recently developed recombinant deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) techniques have made it possible to utilize microorganisms for synthesis of commercially useful proteins and peptides which are normally made by other organisms. Briefly, the procedure involves: (1) isolation and purification of the specific gene or gene segment containing the genetically coded information for the amino acid sequence of the desired protein, (2) recombination of the isolated gene segment with an appropriate transfer vector, and (3) transfer of the vector to the appropriate microorganism and selection of a strain of microorganism containing the desired information.

Examples of foreign genes expresssed in yeast include the wheat .alpha.-amylase gene (Rothstein et al., Nature 308: 662-665 (1984)), human epidermal growth factor (Brake et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 81: 4642-4646 (1984)), chicken egg white lysozyme (Oberto and Davidson, Gene 40: 57-65 (1985)), and Torpedo californica acetylcholine receptor .alpha. subunit (Fujita et al., Science 231: 1284-1287 (1986)). A fragment of the maize seed storage protein, zein, has also been produced in yeast (Coraggio et al., EMBO J. 5: 459-465 (1986)).

There is no report in the prior art of expression of a wheat gluten gene in lower eukaryotes, for example yeast. Wheat gluten proteins consist of gliadin and glutenin proteins. The gliadins are monomeric proteins of 30,000 to 78,000 molecular weight; they comprise a multigene family and have been historically assigned to .alpha., .beta., .gamma., and w classes based on electrophoretic mobility. They constitute a major fraction of the seed storage proteins of hexaploid wheat grain and are important dietary proteins and determinants of dough and bread baking quality. In addition, gliadins, or peptides derived from them during digestion, initiate damage to the absorptive epithelium of the small intestine to produce symptoms of celiac disease in susceptible individuals.

While production of wheat gluten proteins by yeast strains would be of considerable value for production of pure proteins for use in diagnosis and treatment of celiac disease, for testing theories of dough formation, or for supplementation of baking formulations, heretofore no yeast having this capability has been made. Problems inherent in the expression of a wheat gluten gene in yeast include the following: (1) extreme differences in amino acid codon preference between gluten protein mRNAs and abundant yeast protein mRNAs make predictions regarding the compatibility of gluten mRNAs with the yeast protein synthesis system impossible; (2) lack of prior knowledge regarding the stability of wheat gluten protein mRNAs in yeast make predictions of the actual synthesis of complete gluten protein molecules in yeast impossible; (3) lack of prior knowledge of the toxicity, if any, of wheat gluten proteins to yeast make predictions of the maintenance of viable wheat gluten protein-producing yeast strains impossible; and (4) lack of knowledge of the compatibility of the yeast .alpha.-gliadin precursor with the protein processing systems of yeast make it impossible to predict whether the signal peptide would be cleaved from the .alpha.-gliadin precursor to produce the mature protein.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A strain of yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been developed which, when grown under defined culture conditions, will produce a protein indistinguishable from the wheat gluten protein, .alpha.-gliadin, by criteria of molecular size and immunochemical reactivity. This new yeast strain was developed by introduction of a specially constructed autonomously replicating extrachromasomal genetic element, gluten plasmid pAY31, into a non-gluten protein producing yeast strain and differs from its parent by the genetic information contained in the plasmid.

Gluten plasmid pAY31 is a circular DNA molecule, constructed by enzymic fusion of the following elements: (1) the Escherichia coli plasmid pUC8 wherein the EcoRI site has been removed; (2) the autonomously replicating yeast sequence ARS1; (3) the yeast URA3 gene; (4) a modified yeast iso-1-cytochrome c (CYC1) gene retaining the promoter region and transcription termination sequence, and wherein the protein coding sequences have been deleted and replaced with a synthetic EcoRI restriction site, the site at which the wheat gluten gene is cloned; and (5) a gene fragment of wheat .alpha.-gliadin .alpha.1Y consisting of the amino acid region, translation initiation and termination sequences, and short flanking nucleotide sequences, but excluding transcription initiation and termination sequences.

Strains of yeast capable of synthesizing other wheat gluten proteins are prepared by utilizing the gene fragment for the desired protein, instead of that for .alpha.-gliadin, as element (5) of the gluten plasmid constructed as described above. For example, a strain of yeast capable of producing .beta.-gliadin protein is prepared by inserting into the plasmid a .beta.-gliadin gene segment having the amino acid coding region, translation initiation, and termination sequences for .beta.-gliadin instead of those for .alpha.-gliadin. Using this procedure, other yeast strains can be prepared which are capable of synthesizing any wheat gluten protein for which a gene is available.

Yeast strains that produce proteins of non-yeast origin have been previously developed, but the above described-strain is the first one known capable of producing a wheat gluten protein or a complete cereal seed storage protein of any kind. This invention is new and unexpected in that: (1) the amino acid codon contents of wheat gluten genes are sufficiently different from the codon useage patterns of yeast to render the likelihood of wheat gluten production in yeast uncertain; (2) it was not predictable that the required mRNA would be sufficiently stable in the new yeast strain to allow production of the wheat gluten protein; (3) the potential toxicity of the wheat gluten protein to yeast was unknown; and (4) the characteristics of the yeast protein processing systems were unknown so that it was not predictable that the signal protein would be appropriately cleaved from the .alpha.-gliadin precursor to produce the mature protein.

The invention is applicable to the fields of food technology and medicine. The gluten proteins of the wheat seed are essential determinants of the behavior of wheat flour in formation of doughs and batters used to prepare bread, pasta, cake, and cookie products; and different proteins have different effects in this regard. Supplementation of doughs and batters with specific proteins produced by this invention allows modification of production processes and reduction of unit costs. Such supplementation may also yield bread, cake, pasta, and cookie products with greater consumer acceptability or greater nutritional value.

This invention can also be used to produce pure proteins for use in the diagnosis and treatment of illness in humans caused by wheat gluten proteins and for testing theories of dough formation.

In accordance with this discovery it is an object of the invention to provide new strains of yeast capable of synthesizing wheat gluten proteins.

Another object of this invention is to provide wheat gluten plasmids for insertion into yeast strains for production of wheat proteins.

It is a further object to provide a method for producing yeast strains capable of synthesizing wheat gluten proteins.

Another object of this invention is the provision of pure wheat gluten proteins for use in foods or medicine.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become readily apparent from the ensuing description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the construction of expression vector pAY27.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the construction of expression vector pAY31.

FIG. 3 shows restriction map of pAY31.

FIGS. 4A-4G show the nucleotide sequence of plasmid pAY31.

FIGS. 5A-5B show the nucleotide sequence of the .alpha.-gliadin gene fragment used to construct pAY32.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention comprises yeast strains capable of producing wheat gluten proteins and methods of preparing the same. The new strains are prepared by introducing into a parent yeast strain a wheat gluten recombinant plasmid which contains as its major elements: (1) a modification of the plasmid pUC8 which carries all the genes necessary for replication of the recombinant plasmid in E. coli and carries the .beta.-lactamase gene (amp.sup.r) which serves as a selectable marker in bacteria, but from which the restriction endonuclease EcoRI recognition/cleavage site has been removed; (2) the yeast sequence ARS1, to allow autonomous replication of plasmid in yeast; (3) the yeast URA3 gene, to confer uracil prototrophy and maintain positive selection pressure for cells containing the plasmid and which serves as a selectable marker for transformed yeast cells; (4) a modified yeast CYC1 gene having the upstream activation sequences and promoter elements of the gene, to facilitate regulated transcription of the inserted gluten gene segment, and the transcription termination control element of the CYC1 gene, to facilitate proper termination of transcription of the inserted gene segment and production of functional messenger RNA, but lacking the protein coding sequences which have been deleted and replaced with a synthetic EcoRI restriction site, the site at which the wheat gluten gene is cloned; and (5) the inserted wheat gluten protein gene segment, consisting of the amino acid coding region, translation initiation and termination sequences, and short flanking nucleotide sequences, but excluding transcription initiation and termination sequences.

For construction of a plasmid which provides for production of .alpha.-gliadin in yeast, a genomic wheat .alpha.-gliadin gene fragment consisting of the entire 858 base pairs (bp) of protein coding sequences, 18 bp of 5' leader sequences, and 54 bp of 3' non-coding sequences was inserted into the EcoRI expression site of the modified CYC1 gene. The .alpha.-gliadin plasmid was next transformed into a ura3- yeast strain (having a mutation in the URA3 gene). Selection of transformed yeast strains was carried out by growing the strains on uracil omission medium.

As described below when plasmid pAY31, which includes the .alpha.-gliadin gene segment, was transformed into S. cerevisiae, the transformed strain produced an abundant CYC1-.alpha.-gliadin transcript of approximately 1050 bases, synthesized in the transformed yeast under the control of the CYC1 regulatory region. The transcript terminated within the .alpha.-gliadin 3' non-coding sequences, near a nucleotide sequence similar to the yeast transcription termination consensus sequence. The protein produced by the transformed yeast was indistinguishable from .alpha.-gliadin by criteria of molecular size and immunochemical reactivity. .alpha.-gliadin detected in total protein extracts from transformed cells accounted for approximately 0.1% of the total cellular protein. The size of .alpha.-gliadin synthesized by the transformed yeast is the same as mature .alpha.-gliadin in wheat indicating that the primary translation product undergoes a post-translational modification in yeast similar to that which it undergoes in wheat, i.e., the .alpha.-gliadin precursor signal peptide is cleaved.

Production of transformed yeast strains capable of producing other wheat gluten proteins, e.g., .beta.-gliadin, .gamma.-gliadin, or glutenin, are constructed by inserting a segment of the desired wheat gluten protein gene, the segment having the amino acid coding region, translation initiation and termination sequences, and short flanking nucleotide sequences, but excluding transcription initiation and termination sequences as element (5) of the gluten plasmid described above. For example, a yeast strain capable of synthesizing .beta.-gliadin of 33.9 kilodaltons molecular weight is prepared by incorporating a segment of the .beta.-gliadin gene CY10, described below, as element (5), followed by transformation of the parent yeast strain.

To facilitate expression of a wheat gene in yeast, an expression vector was prepared by application of several techniques, including (1) digestive cleavage of DNA at specific nucleotide sequences (restriction endonuclease cleavage); (2) sequential enzymic removal of nucleotides from the ends of the DNA molecules (exonuclease digestion); (3) covalent enzymic joining of linear DNA molecules (ligation); and (4) plasmid or bacteriophage-induced transformation of bacteria (cloning). Descriptions of these techniques can be found in the publications by Maniatis et al., Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual, Cold Spring Harbor Press (1982), and Wu et al. (Eds.) Methods in Enzymology, Vol. 100, Sections I and IV (1983). Next, a wheat gluten plasmid was constructed by subcloning a portion of a genomic wheat .alpha.-gliadin gene into the CYC1-directed expression site of the expression vector to obtain a gliadin recombinant plasmid. Finally, a strain of S. cerevisiae was transformed with the wheat gluten plasmid.

EXAMPLES

The present invention is more fully described by, but not limited to, the following examples.

EXAMPLE 1

Construction of the Expression Vector pAY27

The expression vector pAY27 was constructed to express foreign genes in the yeast S. cerevisiae. The vector contains the origin of replication and the .beta.-lactamase gene from the E. coli plasmid pUC8, the yeast URA3 gene, the yeast origin of replication (ARS1), and the modified yeast CYC1 gene from which the protein coding sequences have been deleted. The modified CYC1 gene contains a single EcoRI restriction site into which the wheat gluten protein gene is cloned. pAY27 was constructed following the scheme illustrated in FIG. 1.

A. Subcloning of the S. cerevisiae ARS1 sequence into pUC8.

The plasmid pYE(CENIII)41 (Clarke and Carbon, Nature 287: 504-509 (1980) was digested with the restriction endonucleases BamHI and EcoRI and the DNA was electrophoresed on a preparative agarose gel. The 2.8 kbp fragment containing the ARS1 sequence was recovered and ligated into BamHI-EcoRI-digested pUC8. The ligation mixture was transformed into E. coli, plated to obtain individual colonies, and transformants analyzed by cracking gels to determine which contained inserts within the plasmid. One plasmid, designated as pAY24, was analyzed by restriction endonuclease analysis and found to have band patterns expected for the ARS1 sequence cloned into pUC8. This plasmid is 5.52 kbp in size.

In order to have only a single EcoRI restriction site (CYC1-directed expression site) in the final vector, the EcoRI site at the junction of the ARS1 and pUC8 sequences was removed from pAY24 by digestion of pAY24 with EcoRI, treatment of the EcoRI complementary ends with nuclease S1, and recircularization of the plasmids by blunt-end ligation. This plasmid was designated pAY25. Restriction endonuclease analysis of pAY25 indicated that the EcoRI restriction site was removed from the plasmid and that no other changes had occurred in the plasmid as a result of the nuclease S1 digestion. The size of the plasmid is 5.52 kbp.

B. Construction of the CYC1-directed Expression Site

The construction of the CYC1-directed expression site was carried out in such a way that all of the protein coding sequences were deleted but the transcriptional control sequences were left intact. In the initial stage of construction of the cloning and expression site, the EcoRI restriction site present in plasmid pUC8 (Viera and Messing, Gene 19: 259-268 (1982}) was removed by digestion with EcoRI, removal of the complementary ends with nuclease S1 digestion, and recircularization of the plasmid by blunt-end ligation. The recircularized plasmids were transformed into E. coli JM83 (ara, .DELTA.lac-pro, strA, thi, .phi.80dlacZ.DELTA.M15) (Viera and Messing, supra) according to the method of Hanahan, J. Mol. Biol. 166: 557-580 (1983), and transformants were analyzed to demonstrate the loss of the EcoRI restriction site. One plasmid, designated as pAY13, was selected for further use in construction of the cloning and expression site.

The S. cervisiae CYC1 gene was subcloned into pAY13 by digestion of plasmid pAB16 (Stiles et al., Cell 25: 277-284 (1983)) with HindIII and SalI. The 1.7 kilobase pairs (kbp) HindIII-SalI CYC1 fragment was removed from pAB16 and ligated into pAY13 that had been digested with HindIII and SalI. This plasmid was designated as pAY9. Restriction endonuclease analysis and analysis with XhoI confirmed the presence of the CYC1 gene. Plasmid pAY9 consists of the CYC1 sequences between the HindIII site at nucleotide 1 and the SalI site at 1.68 kbp and the pUC8 sequences between the SalI site at 1.68 kbp and the HindIII at 4.38 kbp. The distance of the restriction sites are measured from the HindIII restriction site at the junction of the CYC1 and pUC8 sequences.

Next, the protein coding sequences of the CYC1 gene were deleted. First, pAY9 was digested with EcoRI to linearize the plasmid at the unique EcoRI restriction site located within the third and fourth codons of the CYC1 protein coding sequences. The linearized plasmid was treated with nuclease Bal-31 at a concentration calculated to delete through the ATG initiation codon with 5 minutes of incubation (0.3 units/ml). Phosphorylated EcoRI synthetic linkers were blunt-end ligated onto the ends of the plasmid, the EcoRI complementary ends were generated within the linker sequences by digestion with EcoRI, and the plasmid was recircularized by ligation.

The remaining coding sequences of the CYC1 gene were then deleted as follows. Digestion with KpnI cut the plasmid DNA at the unique KpnI restriction site located 81 bp 5' of the TAA termination codon. The plasmid DNA was treated with nuclease Bal-31 at an enzyme concentration sufficient to delete through the TAA with 5 minutes of incubation (1 unit/ml). Phosphorylated EcoRI linkers were ligated onto the ends of the plasmids and the DNA was digested with EcoRI. The digestion generated EcoRI complementary ends within the new linker sequences and also cut at the EcoRI linker which had been previously inserted into the plasmid after generation of the first deletion. This resulted in the release of the DNA fragment containing the CYC1 protein coding sequences between the first EcoRI linker and the end point of the second deletion. The plasmid was recircularized by ligation under conditions that did not allow ligation of the protein coding DNA sequence back into the plasmid. This plasmid was designated pAY9.DELTA.CYC1. The size of this plasmid is 4.06 kbp. DNA sequence analysis determined that the first nuclease Bal-31 treatment resulted in the deletion of the ATG initiation codon as well as 11 bp of the 5' non-coding region. The second deletion generated by nuclease Bal-31 digestion resulted in the deletion of the remaining protein coding region as well as 11 bp of the 3' non-coding sequences. This analysis confirmed that the protein coding sequence of the CYC1 gene was removed and replaced by the EcoRI restriction site.

C. Subcloning of the modified CYC1 gene into pAY25 from pAY9-.DELTA.CYC1.

pAY25 was digested with HindIII in the presence of ethidium bromide, conditions that allow only one of the two HindIII sites in this plasmid to be cleaved. After removal of the ethidium bromide by isoamyl alcohol extraction, the DNA was digested with SalI, electrophoresed to separate the DNA fragments, and the 3.5 kbp HindIII-SalI fragment recovered from the gel. pAY9-.DELTA.CYC1 was digested with HindIII and SalI and the DNA was electrophoresed on a preparative agarose gel. The 1.33 kbp band was removed from the gel, pooled with the 3.5 kbp fragment from above and ligated. The DNA was transformed into E. coli, and the transformants were picked at random and were analyzed on cracking gels. One plasmid containing an insert was picked, isolated, and analyzed for the proper insert by restriction endonuclease digestion. The resulting band patterns were consistent with the insertion of the modified CYC1 gene into pAY25 between the HindIII site at the border of the ARS1 sequences and the SalI site near nucleotide 1. This plasmid, designated pAY26, is 4.9 kbp in size, and contains the modified CYC1 sequences between the HindIII site and the SalI site, as well as ARS1 sequences and pUC8 sequences.

D. Subcloning of S. cerevisiae selectable marker URA3 into pAY26.

The S. cerevisiae selectable marker, URA3, (Rose et al., Gene 29: 113-124 (1984)) was subcloned into pAY26 to complete construction of the expression vector. The plasmid pUC8-URA3 was digested with HindIII and was eectrophoresed on a preparative agarose gel. The 1.15 kbp fragment containing the URA3 gene was removed and ligated into pAY26 that had been linearized by digestion with HindIII in the presence of ethidium bromide and purified by preparative agarose gel electrophoresis. The DNA was transformed into E. coli, and the transformants were analyzed for the presence of the URA3 insert. One plasmid was chosen and analyzed by restriction endonuclease analysis. This plasmid, designated pAY27, is made up of the URA3 gene between the HindIII sites at nucleotide 1 and 1.18 kbp, the modified CYC1 fragment between the SalI site at 1.18 kbp and the HindIII site at 2.51 kbp, the ARS1 sequences between the HindIII site at 2.51 kbp and the EcoRI site that was removed at 3.37 kbp and pUC8 between 3.37 kbp and 6.05 kbp (FIG. 1). All distances of the restriction sites are measured in kbp from the HindIII site located at the junction of pUC8 and the URA3 gene. The plasmid has the .beta.-lactamase gene (amp.sup.r) as a selectable marker in E. coli and the URA3 gene as a selectable marker in yeast. The plasmid can be grown as an episome in both E. coli and yeast as it contains an E. coli origin of replication and the ARSI sequence which is presumed to be an origin of replication in yeast. The single EcoRI restriction site of the plasmid is the cloning site of genes that are to be expressed in yeast under control of the CYC1 promoter. The cloning site is flanked by the CYC1 promoter and the catabolite control sequences and by the transcription termination sequences.

pAY27 was tested for its ability to transform ura3- yeast strains to the URA.sup.+ phenotype using yeast strain D1113-1OB. Transformed cells were selected by plating on -ura omission medium plates. After incubation for 3 to 5 days, transformed colonies appeared on the plates at the rate of approximately 200 to 400 transformants/ug of vector DNA. pAY27 is maintained in transformed yeast by selecting for uracil prototrophy in yeast containing a mutation in the URA3 gene.

pAY27 contained in E. coli is on permanent deposit with the culture collection of the Northern Regional Research Center, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Peoria, Ill., and has been assigned the accession No. NRRL B-18120.

EXAMPLE 2

Construction of Gliadin Recombinant Plasmid pAY31

A portion of a cloned wheat gliadin gene was isolated and subcloned into the EcoRI site (expression site) of the expression vector pAY27 to produce a recombinant plasmid pAY31 capable of transforming yeast to uracil prototrophy and additionally capable of the production of wheat .alpha.-gliadin protein. The construction sequence is outlined in FIG. 2.

The starting wheat storage protein gene, .alpha.-1Y, was described by Anderson et al., Nucleic Acids Research 12: 8129-8144 (1984). A 6.2 kbp EcoRI fragment of this gene was cloned into the EcoRI site of plasmid RVI1.DELTA.7 (Lynn et al, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 80: 2656-2660 (1983}) to yield a 10.7 kbp plasmid, designated pYAZ28. pYAZ28 was digested with NcoI to release a 1025 bp fragment containing the 858 bp protein coding sequence, 113 bp of 5' and 54 bp of 3' flanking sequences. The ends were filled in with E. coli DNA polymerase I (Klenow fragment) ligated to EcoRI synthetic linkers, inserted into the EcoRI restriction site of pUC12 (Messing, Meth. Enzymol. 101: 20-78 (1983)) and transformed into E. coli K-12, JM103 (.DELTA.lac pro, thi, strA, supE, endA, sbcB15, hsdR4, F'traD36, proAB, lacIqZaM15) (Messing et al., Nucleic Acids Research 9(2): 309-321 (1981)). The resulting plasmid, designated pYUNIC, with the insert 5' end proximal to the BamHI restriction site in pUC12 was cleaved with BamHI and digested with Bal31, taking aliquots at intervals calculated to allow removal of most of the 5' flanking sequences. After Klenow fragment end-filling, addition of EcoRI linkers and religation, the truncated plasmids were transformed into E. coli JM103. Ampicillin resistant colonies were selected and the approximate extent of cleavage determined by sizing of PstI/EcoRI fragments on 7% polyacrylamide gels. The plasmid selected, designated as pYTr14D, was digested with EcoRI and the truncated .alpha.-gliadin fragment was transferred to bacteriophage M13mp10 (M13 bacteriophage with polylinker site in lacZ region (Messing et al., Gene 19: 269-276 (1982)) for deletion endpoint sequence analysis. The 5' flanking sequence was determined to begin 18 bp 5' to the ATG initiation codon and the 3' flanking sequence to end 54 bp 3' to the TGA termination codon, not counting EcoRI ends.

A second aliquot of the truncated .alpha.-gliadin gene fragment was ligated into the EcoRI site of pAY27. The ligation mixture was transformed into E. coli and the transformants were analyzed for the presence of the .alpha.-gliadin insert. Restriction endonuclease analysis was used to confirm that the insert was the .alpha.-gliadin gene and to determine its orientation in the vector. Digestion with PstI, and agarose gel electrophoresis confirmed that the .alpha.-gliadin gene is in the correct orientation for expression, i.e., such that the 5' flanking sequence of the wheat gluten protein gene fragment is proximal to the promoter of the modified CYC1 gene.

The restriction map of pAY31 is given in FIG. 3. Restriction sites are: E, EcoRI; H, HindIII; P, PstI; S, SalI; X, XhoI. The solid line indicates pUC8 sequences and the double lines indicate yeast sequences. The size of pAY31 is 6.99 kbp. The distances of the restriction sites are measured in kbp from the HindIII site at the junction of the pUC8 and yeast sequences. The nucleotide sequence of plasmid pAY31 is given in FIGS. 4A-4G. E. coli was transformed with pAY31 according to the method of Hanahan, supra. pAY31, contained in E. coli, is on permanent deposit with the culture collection of the Northern Regional Research Center (NRRL), Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Peoria, Ill., and has been assigned the accession No. NRRL B-18121.

EXAMPLE 3

Preparation of Yeast Containing pAY31

The starting yeast, S. cerevisiae strain D1113-10B (MAT.DELTA. ura3-52 his3-a1 leu2-3,112 ilv3 can1-100 SUP4-o), was obtained from F. Sherman, Department of Biochemistry, University of Rochester School of Medicine. The yeast was maintained on YPD medium (2% peptone (Difco Laboratories, Inc. Detroit, Mi.), 2% dextrose, 1% yeast extract.

The yeast was transformed with the plasmid pAY31 by the alkaline cation method of Ito et al., Journal of Bacteriology 153: 163-168 (1983). The yeast was grown in 100 ml of YPD broth which had been inoculated with 1 ml of an overnight YPD culture followed by vigorous shaking to late log phase (OD600 of 1.6). Cells were collected by centrifugation at 1100.times.g for 5 minutes and were washed with 20 ml of TE buffer (10mM Tris-base, 1 mM disodium ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), pH 7.5). The cells were resuspended in 5 ml of TE buffer and a 500 ul aliquot of the cells was transferred to a 13.times.100 cm glass test tube that contained 500 .mu.l of 200 mM lithium acetate (Sigma Chemical Co., St. Louis, Mo.). Following incubation at 30.degree. C. for 1 hour with vigorous shaking, 100 .mu.l of cells were transferred to a 1.5 ml polypropylene centrifuge tube containing 1 ug of pAY31 DNA in 15 of TE buffer. The tube was incubated statically at 30.degree. C. for 30 minutes. An equal volume of 70% polyethylene glycol 8000 (PEG) in water was added and mixed thoroughly with a vortex mixer. After incubation at 30.degree. C. for 1 hour, the cells were heat-shocked at 42.degree. C. for 5 minutes, collected by centrifugation, and washed twice with sterile water. The cells were resuspended in 200 .mu.l of water and plated on -ura omission medium plates to select for transformants containing pAY31.

The resulting population of cells is screened for uracil prototrophy by plating on agar medium permissive for the genotype MAT.alpha. his3-.DELTA.1 leu 2-3,112 ilv3. This media (uracil omission media) contains 0.67% bacto-yeast nitrogen base without amino acids, 2% dextrose, 2% bacto agar, distilled water, 20 mg/ml histidine, 80 mg/ml leucine, 30 mg/ml isoleucine, 150 mg/ml valine, and 20 mg/ml arginine HCl. Other media formulations which supply nitrogen, carbohydrates, minerals, and vitamins are also suitable for uracil prototrophic screening, provided they supply the above amino acids and lack uracil. Transformed yeast strain D1113-pAY31 is maintained on uracil omission media. D1113-pAY31 has been deposited with the NRRL culture collection, and has been assigned the accession No. Y-18402.

Transformed yeast colonies are grown in larger amounts in uracil media described above except without agar, with continuous shaking. Cells are collected for analysis of messenger RNA and protein similar to that of wheat gliadin. The temperature range for growth is about 22.degree. to 32.degree. C.; the preferred temperature is 30.degree. C. Production of cells is obtained in about 18 to 24 hours. The pH range of the medium is about 5.4 to 6.0; the preferred pH is 5.6.

EXAMPLE 4

Analysis of the Expression of the u-gliadin Gene in Yeast

1. Isolation and Analysis of Yeast RNA

To assay for transcription of the .alpha.-gliadin insert, pAY27 and pAY31 were transformed into yeast strain D1113-10B and were plated on -ura omission medium plates. After incubation of 3 to 5 days, individual colonies were picked, grown, and total RNA was isolated as follows. Yeast transformed with either pAY27 or pAY31 were grown to a density of approximately 1.times.10.sup.7 cells/ml in uracil omission medium at 30.degree. C. with continuous shaking. Yeast were collected by centrifugation at 2500.times.g for 10 minutes at 0.degree. C., and were resuspended in 5 ml of ice-cold 50 mM Tris-HCl (pH 8.0), 20 mM EDTA, and 1 M NaCl. Pre-cooled glass beads (0.5 mm dia.) were added to 80% of the volume of the liquid and the cells were disrupted by high-speed vortex mixing, three cycles of 30 seconds each, cooling the tube for 30 seconds on ice between vortexings. An equal volume of phenol: chloroform: isoamyl alcohol (50:49:1) was added and the extract was vortexed for three cycles of 30 seconds each. The extract was placed on ice for 30 seconds between vortexings. The phases were separated by centrifugation at 10,000.times.g for 10 minutes, and the aqueous phase was removed and re-extracted twice in the same manner. A final extraction was done with an equal volume of chloroform. The RNA was precipitated by the addition of 2.5 volumes of ethanol and maintained at -20.degree. C. for three or more hours. Cells transformed by both plasmids were grown in -ura broth containing 10% dextrose or in -ura broth containing 3% glycerol and 0.1% dextrose, to cause repression and derepression, respectively, of the CYC1 promoter. The RNA from these cultures was analyzed by northern blot analysis for the presence of the .alpha.-gliadin:CYC1 hybrid mRNA transcript in the pAY31 transformed cells grown under the different conditions. The procedure for the northern blot analysis was as follows. Twenty micrograms of total cellular RNA was fractionated by electrophoresis on a 1.5% agarose gel containing 6% formaldehyde using 10 mM phosphate running buffer at pH 6.7 (Lehrach et al., Biochemistry 16: 4743-4751 (1977)). The RNA was blotted onto nitrocellulose membrane and probed by the procedure of Thomas, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 77: 5201-5205 (1980) using a wheat .alpha.-gliadin gene fragment labeled with [.sup.32 P] by nick-translation. After washing and drying, the radioactive membrane areas were detected by exposure to x-ray film (Kodak XAR-5 or equivalent) with intensifying screens at -70.degree. C. Total RNA isolated from D1113-10B that was transformed with pAY27 showed no specific hybridization from either treatment with the .alpha.-gliadin probe. However, the RNA isolated from the yeast transformed with pAY31 showed a distinct band of approximately 1050 bases in length, as detected by hybridization to the radioactive probe. This demonstrates synthesis of gliadin-specific RNA by the new yeast D1113-pAY31.

To demonstrate that transcription of the .alpha.-gliadin gene is under the control of the CYC1 promoter, gliadin plasmid pAY31 was transformed into S. cerevisiae strain WR3-R3, a yeast strain that contains a mutation in the hem1 locus that codes for .delta.-aminolevulenic acid synthase (Guarente and Mason, Cell 32: 1279-1286 (1983)), and which thus cannot synthesize the heme necessary to activate the CYC1 gene promoter that controls expression of the gliadin gene segment of the plasmid. Yeast transformed with pAY31 were grown in -ura omission medium containing Tween 80 and ergosterol to allow growth of the yeast and to completely repress the CYC1 promoters. The CYC1 promoters were derepressed by the addition of .delta.-aminolevulenic acid (ALA) to the medium when the cells had reached mid-log phase of growth. The RNA was purified from the cells at various times before and after addition of ALA to the medium and was analyzed by northern blot hybridization using the .alpha.-gliadin gene as the probe to determine the relative amounts of CYC1:.alpha.-gliadin mRNA present in each time period. Using this approach, gliadin-specific RNA was undetectable at the time of addition, was easily detectable after 5 minutes, and had reached near steady-state levels by 30 minutes after ALA addition. This analysis demonstrates that transcription of the .alpha.-gliadin gene is under the control of the CYC1 promoter.

To determine the structure of the message, the 3' end of the transcripts were nuclease mapped. A 600 bp MboI-HindIII DNA fragment containing the 3' end of the .alpha.-gliadin gene, its remaining 3' non-coding sequences, and the CYC1 transcription termination sequences was .sup.32 P-end-labeled at the MboI site within the u-gliadin coding sequences. When subjected to S1 nuclease the u-gliadin transcript protected a DNA fragment of 355.+-.10 bases. The labeled MboI site is 313 bases from the termination codon of the .alpha.-gliadin gene, indicating a 3' non-coding region of the .alpha.-gliadin transcript of approximately 42.+-.10 bases. This indicates that transcription is being terminated within the 3' non-coding L- sequences of the u-gliadin gene, about 150 bases 5' to the predicted transcription termination site.

2. Isolation and Analysis of Yeast Proteins

Western blot analysis was done to detect u-gliadin in total cellular protein extracts from transformed yeast. Yeast total proteins were prepared from S. cerevisiae D1113-10B transformed with plasmid pAY27 or pAY31. Yeast total cellular proteins were prepared from transformed yeast grown to a density of 1.times.10.sup.7 cells/ml in uracil omission medium. The cells were collected by centrifugation at 5000.times.g for 10 minutes and were resuspended in 500 .mu.l of 1 M sorbitol (pH 7.0). Zymolyase (125 .mu.g) was added and the cell suspension was incubated at 37.degree. C. for 1 hour. The cells were sedimented by centrifugation and were washed once with 500 .mu.l of 1 M sorbitol. The pelleted cells were resuspended in 500 ul of Laemmli protein loading buffer (Laemmli, Nature 227: 680-685 (1970)) and placed in a boiling water bath for 3 minutes. The total cellular proteins were separated by sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Proteins were electrophoretically transferred to nitrocellulose membrane, essentially according to Towbin et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 76: 4350-4354 (1979) except that the transfer buffer contained 10% methanol and 0.05% SDS. Transfers were carried out at 250 mA, at 10.degree. C. Control experiments with .alpha.-gliadin indicated that greater than 80% transfer was achieved in 3 hours under these conditions. Antigen-antibody reactions were carried out according to Johnson and Elder, J. Exp. Med. 159: 1751-1756 (1983) using rabbit antiserum and prepared against a purified u-gliadin fraction (Greene, Plant Physiology 68: 778-783 (1981)). Bands of gliadin-complexed antibody were detected by binding [.sup.125 I]-Staphylococcus aureus protein A, followed by x-ray film exposure-and analysis, as described for RNA, above. Using .alpha.-gliadin specific rabbit antibody as a probe, a single protein band was detected by immunoblot analysis of extracts from yeast D1113-pAY31. This band migrated with an apparent molecular size of 31 kDa in a 12% gel; and co-migrated with the smaller 32 kDa size class of the gliadin fraction used to raise the antiserum. Extracts of yeast D1113-pAY27 (expression vector only) were gliadin-negative by this analysis.

The behavior of the yeast-synthesized protein is more consistent with the 30.8 kDa size predicted from the gene sequence (Anderson et al., supra) for mature .alpha.-gliadin than with the 32.9 kDa size predicted for the .alpha.-gliadin precursor. These results suggest that an .alpha.-gliadin precursor is produced in the yeast D1113-pAY31 and processed to a mature protein of the same size as u-gliadin synthesized in wheat. By densitometric comparison to the .alpha.-gliadin control bands in the autoradiogram, with the assumption that all components of the sensitizing u-gliadin fraction have the same antigenicity, the yeast-synthesized gliadin was calculated to compose approximately 0.1% of the total D1113-pAY31 protein. The yeast gliadin band exhibited no streaking with very long autoradiographic film exposure, which indicates high stability in the transformed yeast cell.

EXAMPLE 5

Preparation of Yeast Capable of Producing .beta.-gliadin

Production of a yeast strain capable of producing .beta.-gliadin is carried out by construction wheat .beta.-gliadin plasmid, pAY32 which is identical to pAY31 with the exception that a 1016 base pair .beta.-gliadin gene segment of the sequence shown in FIG. 5A and 5B is inserted between positions 2698 and 3630 in place of the 932 bp base pair .alpha.-gliadin gene segment. Next, pAY32 is transformed in yeast as described in Example 3.

The specifics of the construction are as follows:

Plasmid pCZR108, which contains a 7650 bp segment of gliadin gene CY10, is digested sequentially with restriction enzymes HaeIII and XbaI, and the resulting fragments separated by electrophoresis in an agarose gel. A 1606 bp fragment, containing the protein coding sequences, 94 base pairs of 5' flanking sequence and 572 base-pairs of 3' flanking sequence, is recovered from the gel, purified and ligated into the SmaI restriction site of plasmid pUC8 to yield p.beta.G10. pBG10 is transformed into E. coli, amplified, and recovered.

Next, p.beta.G10 is cleaved with restriction enzyme BclI, at a position 81 base-pairs 5' to the translation initiation codon ATG and digested with exonuclease Bal-31 to a position 16-21 base-pairs 5' to the ATG. The treated plasmid is digested with E. coli DNA polymerase (Klenow fragment) to convert the ends to a flush, or "blunt" state. A linker oligonucleotide, containing the EcoRI restriction site is ligated to the plasmid ends with T4 ligase, cleaved with restriction enzyme EcoRI, and religated to yield p.beta.G101, which is transformed into E. coli, amplified, and recovered.

p.beta.G101 is cleaved with restriction enzyme SpeI, at a position 119 bp 3' to the translation stop codon TGA and digested with Bal-31 to a position 54-59 bp 3' to the TGA. It is then converted to a blunt-ended state, an EcoRI restriction site added as above, cleaved with EcoRI, and the two resulting DNA fragements separated by agarose gel electrophoresis. The smaller fragment would be approximately 1025 bp in length, and contain, between EcoRI-cohesive ends, the 930 bp .beta.-gliadin gene coding sequence, approximately 19 bp of 5' flanking sequence, the TGA stop codon and approximately 56 base-pairs of 3' flanking sequence. The smaller fragment is recovered from the gel, purified, and ligated into the expression vector pAY27 to yield plasmids pAY32 and pAY32R, which differ only in the orientation of the .beta.-gliadin insert relative to the CYC1 gene promoter.

Several individual colonies of pAY32/32R-transformed E. coli are grown in small-scale cultures, plasmid DNA isolated, and digested with restriction enzyme PstI to identify those that contain pAY32, in which the 5' flanking sequence of the .beta.-gliadin gene segment is proximal to the CYC1 gene promoter. The digested pAY32 would include fragments approximately 1160, 1240, and 170 bp in length. Plasmid pAY32 is isolated and used to transform yeast D1113-10B to uracil prototrophy, as described above, to yield .beta.-gliadin producing strain D1113-pAY32.

By analogous procedures, a segment of wheat glutenin gene CY.lambda.5 is inserted into pAY27 to yield glutenin recombinant plasmid pAY33 which, when transformed into yeast D1113-10B, results in D1113-pAY33, a yeast stain capable of synthesizing a glutenin protein. This general approach allows the production of yeast strains capable of synthesizing any gluten protein for which a gene is available.

It is understood that the foregoing detailed description is given merely by way of illustration and that modification and variations may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A wheat gluten protein gene plasmid, comprising:

(a) an E. coli plasmid pUC8 wherein the EcoRI site has been removed;

(b) autonomously replicating yeast sequence ARS1;

(c) a yeast UEA3 gene;

(d) a modified yeast iso-1-cytochrome c gene retaining a promoter region and transcription termination sequence, and wherein protein coding sequences have been deleted and replaced with a synthetic EcoRI restriction site;

(e) a wheat gluten protein gene fragment which has an amino acid coding region which upon expression results in a wheat gliadin or glutenin protein, translation initiation and termination sequences, and 3' and 5' flanking nucleotide sequences, but excluding transcription initiation and termination sequences, said gene fragment being cloned into said EcoRI site of said modified CYC1 gene.

2. The plasmid according to claim 1 wherein said wheat gluten protein gene fragment codes for .alpha.-gliadin.

3. The plasmid according to claim 1 wherein said wheat gluten protein gene fragment codes for .alpha.-gliadin.

4. The plasmid according to claim 1 wherein said wheat gluten protein gene fragment codes for glutenin.

5. The plasmid according to claim 2, wherein the plasmid is pAY31.

6. An Escherichia coli strain transformed with the plasmid of claim 1.

7. The Escherichia coli strain of claim 6 wherein the plasmid used for transformation is pAY31.

8. Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast transformed with the plasmid of claim 1.

9. The yeast according to claim 8 wherein said plasmid is pAY31.

10. A method of preparing a wheat gluten protein gene plasmid, comprising ligating a wheat gluten protein gene fragment which has an amino acid coding region which upon expression results in a wheat gliadin or glutenin protein, translation initiation and termination sequences, and 3' and 5' flanking nucleotide sequences, but does not have transcription initiation and termination sequences, into an expression vector comprising (a) an E. coli plasmid pUC8 wherein the EcoRI site has been removed; (b) autonomously replicating yeast sequence ARS1; (c) a yeast URA3 gene; and (d) a modified yeast iso-1-cytochrome c (CYC1) gene retaining a promoter region and transcription termination sequence, and wherein protein coding sequences have been deleted and replaced with a synthetic EcoRI restriction site; and ligating occurring in said EcoRI site of said expression vector in an orientation such that the 5' flanking sequence of the wheat gluten protein gene fragment is proximal to the promoter of the modified CYCI gene.

11. A method of preparing a strain of yeast capable of synthesizing wheat gluten protein, which comprises transforming a strain of S. cerevisiae yeast with said wheat gluten protein gene plasmid of claim 1 whereby synthesis of wheat gluten protein coded by said plasmid occurs during the growth and replication of said transformed yeast under normal culture conditions.

12. A method of producing wheat gluten protein from yeast, comprising cultivating said yeast of claim 8 in uracil omission medium at a temperature of about 22.degree. to 32.degree. C. until a recoverable quantity of wheat gluten protein is produced.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein said yeast is D1113-pAY31.