Active Expression of Human Hyaluronidase PH20 and Characterization of Its Hydrolysis Pattern

Hyaluronidases are a group of glycosidases catalyzing the degradation of hyaluronic acid (HA). Because of the advantages of effectively hydrolyzing the HA-rich matrix and low immunogenicity, human hyaluronidase PH20 (hPH20) is widely used in the medical field. Here, we realized the active expression of recombinant hPH20 by Pichia pastoris under a methanol-induced promoter P(AOX1). By optimizing the composition of the C-terminal domain and fusing protein tags, we constructed a fusion mutant AP(2)-△491C with the extracellular hyaluronidase activity of 258.1 U·L(−1) in a 3-L bioreactor, the highest expression level of recombinant hPH20 produced by microbes. Furthermore, we found recombinant hPH20 hydrolyzed the β-1,4 glycosidic bonds sequentially from the reducing end of o-HAs, with HA(6) (NA) as the smallest substrate. The result will provide important theoretical guidance for the directed evolution of the enzyme to prepare multifunctional o-HAs with specific molecular weights.