Characterizing the role of an endogenous serine protease KpSub2 in recombinant collagen degradation in Komagataella phaffii

The yeast Komagataella phaffii is an emerging microbial host for the production of functional recombinant proteins. However, proteolytic degradation during fermentation often compromises product yield and stability, posing a major hurdle for industrial-scale applications. This study presents a strategy to enhance the production of recombinant humanized type I collagen (rhColI) by engineering a host strain with reduced protease activity. An initial production strain, CL1, was engineered using pos