Depletion of Boric Acid and Cobalt from Cultivation Media: Impact on Recombinant Protein Production with Komagataella phaffii

The REACH regulation stands for “Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals” and defines certain substances as harmful to human health and the environment. This urges manufacturers to adapt production processes. Boric acid and cobalt dichloride represent such harmful ingredients, but are commonly used in yeast cultivation media. The yeast Komagataella phaffii (Pichia pastoris) is an important host for heterologous protein production and compliance with the REACH regulation is desirable. Boric acid and cobalt dichloride are used as boron and cobalt sources, respectively. Boron and cobalt support growth and productivity and a number of cobalt-containing enzymes exist. Therefore, depletion of boric acid and cobalt dichloride could have various negative effects, but knowledge is currently scarce. Herein, we provide an insight into the impact of boric acid and cobalt depletion on recombinant protein production with K. phaffii and additionally show how different vessel materials affect cultivation media compositions through leaking elements. We found that boric acid could be substituted through boron leakiness from borosilicate glassware. Furthermore, depletion of boric acid and cobalt dichloride neither affected high cell density cultivation nor cell morphology and viability on methanol. However, final protein quality of three different industrially relevant enzymes was affected in various ways.