Modification of the expression of transcriptional regulators of Aspergillus to improve industrial fermentations and use of agricultural by-products (07938)

Project nummer: 07938

Omschrijving van het onderzoek

Industry uses fungi from the genus Aspergillus for the production of metabolites and proteins. Production is often performed in large-scale fermentations using crude carbon sources, which consist of a variety of polymers such as starch, cellulose, xylan, xyloglucan, galacto(gluco)mannan, and pectin. These polymers are degraded by a large spectrum of secreted enzymes and the resulting degradation products are taken up by the fungus to serve as nutrients. In fact, these secreted enzymes are abundantly used in industry. The production of secreted proteins is known to be tightly regulated but little is known about the regulators involved. For instance, at least 10 regulators are expected to be involved in the degradation of sugar beet pulp but only 2 regulators have been reported in literature. The recent availability of the genome sequence (Pel et al, 2007) and DNA arrays of Aspergillus niger (facilitated by DSM) allow new approaches for the identification of t ranscriptional regulators of A. niger that are involved in pectin and galacto(gluco)mannan utilisation. These polymers are abundantly present in crude carbon sources. In this project we aim at identifying regulators and assess their role in extracting energy from crude carbon sources and the production of industrial enzymes and metabolites. In addition, the research should result in the production of high value products from agricultural by-products. Finally, we will evaluate to which extent these regulatory systems are conserved in fungi and transfer the knowledge obtained with A. niger to other industrial fungi and to phytopathogenic fungi.

Publicaties

Pel, H.J., J.H. de Winde, D.B. Archer, P.S. Dyer, G. Hofmann, P.J. Schaap, G. Turner, R.P. de Vries, R. Albang, K. Albermann, M.R. Andersen, J.D. Bendtsen, J.A.E. Benen, M. van den Berg, S. Breestraat, M.X. Caddick, R. Contreras, M. Cornell, P.M. Coutinho, E.G.J. Danchin, A.J.M. Debets, P. Dekker, P.W.M. van Dijck, A. van Dijk, L. Dijkhuizen, A.J.M. Driessen, C. d'Enfert, S. Geysens, C. Goosen, G.S.P. Groot, P.W.J. de Groot, T. Guillemette, B. Henrissat, M. Herweijer, J.P.T.W. van den Hombergh, C.A.M. J.J. van den Hondel, R.T.J.M. van der Heijden, R.M. van der Kaaij, F.M. Klis, H.J. Kools, C.P. Kubicek, P.A. van Kuyk, J. Lauber, X. Lu, M.J.E.C. van der Maarel, R. Meulenberg, H. Menke, A.M. Mortimer, J. Nielsen, S.G. Oliver, M. Olsthoorn, K. Pal, N.N.M.E. van Peij, A.F.J. Ram, U. Rinas, J.A. Roubos, C.M.J. Sagt, M. Schmoll, J. Sun, D. Ussery, J. Varga, W. Vervecken, P.J.I. van de Vondervoort, H. Wedler, H.A.B. Wösten, A.-P. Zeng, A.J.J. van Ooyen, J. Visser, H. Stam. 2007. Genome sequence of Aspergillus niger strain CBS 513.88: a versatile cell factory. Nature Biotechnol. 25: 221-231.

Gebruikers

Four companies and one other university are involved in this project.

Projectleider

Dr.ir. R.P. de Vries
Universiteit Utrecht
Departement Biologie
Microbiologie
Postbus 80056
3508 TB UTRECHT

Status van het project

Startdatum:	15-08-2007
Einddatum:	14-08-2010

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