MUTANT AOX2 PROMOTER, MICROORGANISM CARRYING SAME, METHOD OFPREPARATION THEREOF AND PRODUCTION OF HETEROLOGOUS PROTEIN USING SUCH MICROORGANISM

摘要

An object of the invention is to provide a novel promoter for high-level production of heterologous proteins and a method of obtaining the promoter. Thus, a mutant AOX2 promoter is derived from the natural AOX2 promoter by base sequence deletion, base substitution or insertion. A microbial strain carrying the AOX2 gene under the control of such a mutant AOX2 promoter can be obtained by cultivating a strain incapable of producing AOX encoded by the AOX1 gene but carrying the AOX2 gene under the control of the natural AOX2 promoter in a methanol-containing medium. A heterologous protein can be produced by cultivating the mutant strain with the desired heterologous protein gene incorporated downstream from a promoter. Furthermore, a plasmid carrying the mutant AOX2 promoter is provided. A heterologous protein can be produced by using a transformant obtained by incorporation of such plasmid.