Induction of cellulase and hemicellulase activities of Thermoascus aurantiacus by xylan hydrolyzed products

The development of a heterologous gene expression system in thermophilic fungus Thermoascus aurantiacus

Thermoascus aurantiacus is a thermophilic fungus that belongs to the ascomycetous class and has attracted increasing interest for its ability to produce thermostable cellulolytic enzymes and growth at elevated temperatures. However, studies on this organism have been limited because of the lack of a genetic manipulation system. Here, we developed a polyethylene glycol (PEG)-mediated transformation system for T. aurantiacus based on an orotidine-5'-monophosphate decarboxylase (pyrG)-deficient mutant, with this method achieving a transformation efficiency of 33 ± 3 transformants per microgram of DNA. Intracellular or secretory expression of heterologous proteins, including green fluorescent protein, β-galactosidase and α-amylase, in T. aurantiacus was successful under the inducible endogenous cellobiohydrolase and endoglucanase gene promoter or the constitutive heterologous pyruvate decarboxylase and enolase gene promoter from Trichoderma reesei. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on PEG-mediated transformation of T. aurantiacus, which sets the foundation for strain improvement for biotechnological applications and functional genomic studies.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13205-021-02963-w.

CAZymes from the thermophilic fungus Thermoascus aurantiacus are induced by C5 and C6 sugars

BACKGROUND

Filamentous fungi are excellent lignocellulose degraders, which they achieve through producing carbohydrate active enzymes (CAZymes). CAZyme production is highly orchestrated and gene expression analysis has greatly expanded understanding of this important biotechnological process. The thermophilic fungus Thermoascus aurantiacus secretes highly active thermostable enzymes that enable saccharifications at higher temperatures; however, the genome-wide measurements of gene expression in response to CAZyme induction are not understood.

RESULTS

A fed-batch system with plant biomass-derived sugars D-xylose, L-arabinose and cellobiose established that these sugars induce CAZyme expression in T. aurantiacus. The C5 sugars induced both cellulases and hemicellulases, while cellobiose specifically induced cellulases. A minimal medium formulation was developed to enable gene expression studies of T. aurantiacus with these inducers. It was found that d-xylose and L-arabinose strongly induced a wide variety of CAZymes, auxiliary activity (AA) enzymes and carbohydrate esterases (CEs), while cellobiose facilitated lower expression of mostly cellulase genes. Furthermore, putative orthologues of different unfolded protein response genes were up-regulated during the C5 sugar feeding together with genes in the C5 sugar assimilation pathways.

CONCLUSION

This work has identified two additional CAZyme inducers for T. aurantiacus, L-arabinose and cellobiose, along with D-xylose. A combination of biochemical assays and RNA-seq measurements established that C5 sugars induce a suite of cellulases and hemicellulases, providing paths to produce broad spectrum thermotolerant enzymatic mixtures.

The regulatory and transcriptional landscape associated with carbon utilization in a filamentous fungus

Filamentous fungi, such as Neurospora crassa, are very efficient in deconstructing plant biomass by the secretion of an arsenal of plant cell wall-degrading enzymes, by remodeling metabolism to accommodate production of secreted enzymes, and by enabling transport and intracellular utilization of plant biomass components. Although a number of enzymes and transcriptional regulators involved in plant biomass utilization have been identified, how filamentous fungi sense and integrate nutritional information encoded in the plant cell wall into a regulatory hierarchy for optimal utilization of complex carbon sources is not understood. Here, we performed transcriptional profiling of N. crassa on 40 different carbon sources, including plant biomass, to provide data on how fungi sense simple to complex carbohydrates. From these data, we identified regulatory factors in N. crassa and characterized one (PDR-2) associated with pectin utilization and one with pectin/hemicellulose utilization (ARA-1). Using in vitro DNA affinity purification sequencing (DAP-seq), we identified direct targets of transcription factors involved in regulating genes encoding plant cell wall-degrading enzymes. In particular, our data clarified the role of the transcription factor VIB-1 in the regulation of genes encoding plant cell wall-degrading enzymes and nutrient scavenging and revealed a major role of the carbon catabolite repressor CRE-1 in regulating the expression of major facilitator transporter genes. These data contribute to a more complete understanding of cross talk between transcription factors and their target genes, which are involved in regulating nutrient sensing and plant biomass utilization on a global level.

Xylose induces cellulase production in Thermoascus aurantiacus

BACKGROUND

Lignocellulosic biomass is an important resource for renewable production of biofuels and bioproducts. Enzymes that deconstruct this biomass are critical for the viability of biomass-based biofuel production processes. Current commercial enzyme mixtures have limited thermotolerance. Thermophilic fungi may provide enzyme mixtures with greater thermal stability leading to more robust processes. Understanding the induction of biomass-deconstructing enzymes in thermophilic fungi will provide the foundation for strategies to construct hyper-production strains.

RESULTS

Induction of cellulases using xylan was demonstrated during cultivation of the thermophilic fungus Thermoascus aurantiacus. Simulated fed-batch conditions with xylose induced comparable levels of cellulases. These fed-batch conditions were adapted to produce enzymes in 2 and 19 L bioreactors using xylose and xylose-rich hydrolysate from dilute acid pretreatment of corn stover. Enzymes from T. aurantiacus that were produced in the xylose-fed bioreactor demonstrated comparable performance in the saccharification of deacetylated, dilute acid-pretreated corn stover when compared to a commercial enzyme mixture at 50 °C. The T. aurantiacus enzymes retained this activity at of 60 °C while the commercial enzyme mixture was largely inactivated.

CONCLUSIONS

Xylose induces both cellulase and xylanase production in T. aurantiacus and was used to produce enzymes at up to the 19 L bioreactor scale. The demonstration of induction by xylose-rich hydrolysate and saccharification of deacetylated, dilute acid-pretreated corn stover suggests a scenario to couple biomass pretreatment with onsite enzyme production in a biorefinery. This work further demonstrates the potential for T. aurantiacus as a thermophilic platform for cellulase development.

Analysis of inducers of xylanase and cellulase activities production by Ganoderma applanatum LPB MR-56

This manuscript describes the analysis of the effect of cellulose, carboxymethylcellulose (CMC), xylan, and xylose as inducers of cellulase and xylanase activity production by Ganoderma applanatum MR-56 and the optimization of their production in liquid cultures by statistical methods. The Plackett-Burman screening design was applied to identify the most significant inducers of xylanase and cellulase activities production by G. applanatum MR-56. The most significant effect on xylanase and cellulase activities production was exercised by cellulose, even if xylose and CMC were also effective at some times. The combined effect of cellulose, yeast extract, and pH was analyzed by a 2(3) factorial experimental design with four central points that showed that the maximum tested cellulose (1 % w/v) and yeast extract (5 g L(-1)) concentrations gave the maximum production of xylanase (8.24 U mL(-1)) and cellulase (3.29 U mL(-1)) activity at pH 6 and 4, respectively. These values achieved for cellulase and xylanase activity represent 12-25 fold and 36 fold higher values than the maximum so far reported for other strains of G. applanatum, respectively.

Evidence of a critical role for cellodextrin transporte 2 (CDT-2) in both cellulose and hemicellulose degradation and utilization in Neurospora crassa

CDT-1 and CDT-2 are two cellodextrin transporters discovered in the filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa. Previous studies focused on characterizing the role of these transporters in only a few conditions, including cellulose degradation, and the function of these two transporters is not yet completely understood. In this study, we show that deletion of cdt-2, but not cdt-1, results in growth defects not only on Avicel but also on xylan. cdt-2 can be highly induced by xylan, and this mutant has a xylodextrin consumption defect. Transcriptomic analysis of the cdt-2 deletion strain on Avicel and xylan showed that major cellulase and hemicellulase genes were significantly down-regulated in the cdt-2 deletion strain and artificial over expression of cdt-2 in N. crassa increased cellulase and hemicellulase production. Together, these data clearly show that CDT-2 plays a critical role in hemicellulose sensing and utilization. This is the first time a sugar transporter has been assigned a function in the hemicellulose degradation pathway. Furthermore, we found that the transcription factor XLR-1 is the major regulator of cdt-2, while cdt-1 is primarily regulated by CLR-1. These results deepen our understanding of the functions of both cellodextrin transporters, particularly for CDT-2. Our study also provides novel insight into the mechanisms for hemicellulose sensing and utilization in N. crassa, and may be applicable to other cellulolytic filamentous fungi.