IN SACCHAROMYCES-CEREVISIAE OVEREXPRESSION OF HYBRID VIRUS-LIKE-PARTICLES CORRELATES WITH ALTERED CELL-VOLUME DISTRIBUTIONS

Overexpression of hybrid Virus-Like-Particles (VLP) was found to dramatically affect cell kinetics and morphology with a significant increase in doubling times, induction times and major alterations in cell volume distributions. Optimal expression (ca. 10 mg/l) was obtained with a two-step fermentation strategy (raffinose --> galactose) coupled to GAL4 overexpression, resulting in partial cell lysis and VLP release.