Functional insights from recombinant production of bacterial proteases in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

S. cerevisiae was found to be an efficient expression host for the bacterial protease IdeS. In contrast, the expression of BdpK and SpeB faced significant challenges, including lack of activity for BdpK, or imposing a substantial fitness burden on the cells for SpeB, likely due to its broad substrate scope resulting in native protein degradation. The findings of this study provide valuable insights into the limitations and possibilities of yeast as an expression host for bacterial protease production and for studying their physiological effects using yeast as a model eukaryote.