APPLICATION OF YEASTS IN GENE-EXPRESSION STUDIES - A COMPARISON OF SACCHAROMYCES-CEREVISIAE, HANSENULA-POLYMORPHA AND KLUYVEROMYCES-LACTIS - A REVIEW

From the onset of gene technology yeasts have been among the most comm only used host cells for the production of heterologous proteins. At t he beginning of this new development the attention in molecular biolog y and biotechnology focused on the use of the best characterized speci es, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, leading to an increasing number of produ ction systems for recombinant compounds. In recent years alternative y easts became accessible for the techniques of modern molecular genetic s and, thereby, for potential applications in biotechnology. In this r espect Kluyveromyces lactis, and the methylotrophs Hansemula polymorph a and Pichia pastoris have been proven to offer significant advantages over the traditional baker's yeast for the production of certain prot eins. In the following article, the present status of the various yeas t systems is discussed.