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Peng B, Dai L, Iacovelli R, Driessen AJM, Haslinger K. Heterologous Naringenin Production in the Filamentous Fungus Penicillium rubens. JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL AND FOOD CHEMISTRY 2023; 71:20782-20792. [PMID: 38103029 PMCID: PMC10755750 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jafc.3c06755] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2023] [Revised: 12/01/2023] [Accepted: 12/06/2023] [Indexed: 12/17/2023]
Abstract
Naringenin is a natural product with several reported bioactivities and is the key intermediate for the entire class of plant flavonoids. The translation of flavonoids into modern medicine as pure compounds is often hampered by their low abundance in nature and their difficult chemical synthesis. Here, we investigated the possibility to use the filamentous fungus Penicillium rubens as a host for flavonoid production. P. rubens is a well-characterized, highly engineered, traditional "workhorse" for the production of β-lactam antibiotics. We integrated two plant genes encoding enzymes in the naringenin biosynthesis pathway into the genome of the secondary metabolite-deficient P. rubens 4xKO strain. After optimization of the fermentation conditions, we obtained an excellent molar yield of naringenin from fed p-coumaric acid (88%) with a titer of 0.88 mM. Along with product accumulation over 36 h, however, we also observed rapid degradation of naringenin. Based on high-resolution mass spectrometry analysis, we propose a naringenin degradation pathway in P. rubens 4xKO, which is distinct from other flavonoid-converting pathways reported in fungi. Our work demonstrates that P. rubens is a promising host for recombinant flavonoid production, and it represents an interesting starting point for further investigation into the utilization of plant biomass by filamentous fungi.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bo Peng
- Chemical
and Pharmaceutical Biology, Groningen Research
Institute of Pharmacy, University of Groningen, Antonius Deusinglaan 1, 9713AV Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Lin Dai
- Molecular
Microbiology, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences
and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747AG Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Riccardo Iacovelli
- Chemical
and Pharmaceutical Biology, Groningen Research
Institute of Pharmacy, University of Groningen, Antonius Deusinglaan 1, 9713AV Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Arnold J. M. Driessen
- Molecular
Microbiology, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences
and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747AG Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Kristina Haslinger
- Chemical
and Pharmaceutical Biology, Groningen Research
Institute of Pharmacy, University of Groningen, Antonius Deusinglaan 1, 9713AV Groningen, The Netherlands
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2
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Moreno-Giménez E, Gandía M, Sáez Z, Manzanares P, Yenush L, Orzáez D, Marcos JF, Garrigues S. FungalBraid 2.0: expanding the synthetic biology toolbox for the biotechnological exploitation of filamentous fungi. Front Bioeng Biotechnol 2023; 11:1222812. [PMID: 37609115 PMCID: PMC10441238 DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2023.1222812] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/15/2023] [Accepted: 07/12/2023] [Indexed: 08/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Fungal synthetic biology is a rapidly expanding field that aims to optimize the biotechnological exploitation of fungi through the generation of standard, ready-to-use genetic elements, and universal syntax and rules for contributory use by the fungal research community. Recently, an increasing number of synthetic biology toolkits have been developed and applied to filamentous fungi, which highlights the relevance of these organisms in the biotechnology field. The FungalBraid (FB) modular cloning platform enables interchangeability of DNA parts with the GoldenBraid (GB) platform, which is designed for plants, and other systems that are compatible with the standard Golden Gate cloning and syntax, and uses binary pCAMBIA-derived vectors to allow Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation of a wide range of fungal species. In this study, we have expanded the original FB catalog by adding 27 new DNA parts that were functionally validated in vivo. Among these are the resistance selection markers for the antibiotics phleomycin and terbinafine, as well as the uridine-auxotrophic marker pyr4. We also used a normalized luciferase reporter system to validate several promoters, such as PpkiA, P7760, Pef1α, and PafpB constitutive promoters, and PglaA, PamyB, and PxlnA inducible promoters. Additionally, the recently developed dCas9-regulated GB_SynP synthetic promoter collection for orthogonal CRISPR activation (CRISPRa) in plants has been adapted in fungi through the FB system. In general, the expansion of the FB catalog is of great interest to the scientific community since it increases the number of possible modular and interchangeable DNA assemblies, exponentially increasing the possibilities of studying, developing, and exploiting filamentous fungi.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elena Moreno-Giménez
- Food Biotechnology Department, Instituto de Agroquímica y Tecnología de Alimentos (IATA), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Valencia, Spain
- Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Plantas (IBMCP), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)-Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), Valencia, Spain
| | - Mónica Gandía
- Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Food Science, Toxicology and Forensic Medicine Department. Faculty of Pharmacy. Universitat de València. Vicente Andrés Estellés s/n, Valencia, Spain
| | - Zara Sáez
- Food Biotechnology Department, Instituto de Agroquímica y Tecnología de Alimentos (IATA), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Valencia, Spain
| | - Paloma Manzanares
- Food Biotechnology Department, Instituto de Agroquímica y Tecnología de Alimentos (IATA), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Valencia, Spain
| | - Lynne Yenush
- Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Plantas (IBMCP), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)-Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), Valencia, Spain
| | - Diego Orzáez
- Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Plantas (IBMCP), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)-Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), Valencia, Spain
| | - Jose F. Marcos
- Food Biotechnology Department, Instituto de Agroquímica y Tecnología de Alimentos (IATA), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Valencia, Spain
| | - Sandra Garrigues
- Food Biotechnology Department, Instituto de Agroquímica y Tecnología de Alimentos (IATA), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Valencia, Spain
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3
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Koch SM, Freidank-Pohl C, Siontas O, Cortesao M, Mota A, Runzheimer K, Jung S, Rebrosova K, Siler M, Moeller R, Meyer V. Aspergillus niger as a cell factory for the production of pyomelanin, a molecule with UV-C radiation shielding activity. Front Microbiol 2023; 14:1233740. [PMID: 37547691 PMCID: PMC10399693 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1233740] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/02/2023] [Accepted: 07/03/2023] [Indexed: 08/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Melanins are complex pigments with various biological functions and potential applications in space exploration and biomedicine due to their radioprotective properties. Aspergillus niger, a fungus known for its high radiation resistance, is widely used in biotechnology and a candidate for melanin production. In this study, we investigated the production of fungal pyomelanin (PyoFun) in A. niger by inducing overproduction of the pigment using L-tyrosine in a recombinant ΔhmgA mutant strain (OS4.3). The PyoFun pigment was characterized using three spectroscopic methods, and its antioxidant properties were assessed using a DPPH-assay. Additionally, we evaluated the protective effect of PyoFun against non-ionizing radiation (monochromatic UV-C) and compared its efficacy to a synthetically produced control pyomelanin (PyoSyn). The results confirmed successful production of PyoFun in A. niger through inducible overproduction. Characterization using spectroscopic methods confirmed the presence of PyoFun, and the DPPH-assay demonstrated its strong antioxidant properties. Moreover, PyoFun exhibited a highly protective effect against radiation-induced stress, surpassing the protection provided by PyoSyn. The findings of this study suggest that PyoFun has significant potential as a biological shield against harmful radiation. Notably, PyoFun is synthesized extracellularly, differing it from other fungal melanins (such as L-DOPA- or DHN-melanin) that require cell lysis for pigment purification. This characteristic makes PyoFun a valuable resource for biotechnology, biomedicine, and the space industry. However, further research is needed to evaluate its protective effect in a dried form and against ionizing radiation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stella Marie Koch
- Radiation Biology Department, Aerospace Microbiology Research Group, German Aerospace Center, Institute of Aerospace Medicine, Cologne, Germany
| | - Carsten Freidank-Pohl
- Applied and Molecular Microbiology, Institute of Biotechnology, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Oliver Siontas
- Applied and Molecular Microbiology, Institute of Biotechnology, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Marta Cortesao
- Radiation Biology Department, Aerospace Microbiology Research Group, German Aerospace Center, Institute of Aerospace Medicine, Cologne, Germany
| | - Afonso Mota
- Radiation Biology Department, Aerospace Microbiology Research Group, German Aerospace Center, Institute of Aerospace Medicine, Cologne, Germany
| | - Katharina Runzheimer
- Radiation Biology Department, Aerospace Microbiology Research Group, German Aerospace Center, Institute of Aerospace Medicine, Cologne, Germany
| | - Sascha Jung
- Applied and Molecular Microbiology, Institute of Biotechnology, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Katarina Rebrosova
- Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University (MUNI) and St. Anne's Faculty Hospital, Brno, Czechia
| | - Martin Siler
- Institute of Scientific Instruments of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Brno, Czechia
| | - Ralf Moeller
- Radiation Biology Department, Aerospace Microbiology Research Group, German Aerospace Center, Institute of Aerospace Medicine, Cologne, Germany
| | - Vera Meyer
- Applied and Molecular Microbiology, Institute of Biotechnology, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
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Liu D, Garrigues S, de Vries RP. Heterologous protein production in filamentous fungi. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 2023:10.1007/s00253-023-12660-8. [PMID: 37405433 PMCID: PMC10386965 DOI: 10.1007/s00253-023-12660-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2023] [Revised: 06/16/2023] [Accepted: 06/21/2023] [Indexed: 07/06/2023]
Abstract
Filamentous fungi are able to produce a wide range of valuable proteins and enzymes for many industrial applications. Recent advances in fungal genomics and experimental technologies are rapidly changing the approaches for the development and use of filamentous fungi as hosts for the production of both homologous and heterologous proteins. In this review, we highlight the benefits and challenges of using filamentous fungi for the production of heterologous proteins. We review various techniques commonly employed to improve the heterologous protein production in filamentous fungi, such as strong and inducible promoters, codon optimization, more efficient signal peptides for secretion, carrier proteins, engineering of glycosylation sites, regulation of the unfolded protein response and endoplasmic reticulum associated protein degradation, optimization of the intracellular transport process, regulation of unconventional protein secretion, and construction of protease-deficient strains. KEY POINTS: • This review updates the knowledge on heterologous protein production in filamentous fungi. • Several fungal cell factories and potential candidates are discussed. • Insights into improving heterologous gene expression are given.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dujuan Liu
- Fungal Physiology, Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute & Fungal Molecular Physiology, Utrecht University, Uppsalalaan 8, 3584 CT, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Sandra Garrigues
- Fungal Physiology, Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute & Fungal Molecular Physiology, Utrecht University, Uppsalalaan 8, 3584 CT, Utrecht, The Netherlands
- Department of Food Biotechnology, Instituto de Agroquímica Y Tecnología de Alimentos (IATA), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Paterna, Valencia, Spain
| | - Ronald P de Vries
- Fungal Physiology, Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute & Fungal Molecular Physiology, Utrecht University, Uppsalalaan 8, 3584 CT, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
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5
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Tran VT, Thai HD, Vu TX, Vu HH, Nguyen GT, Trinh MT, Tran HTT, Pham HTT, Le NTH. An efficient Agrobacterium-mediated system based on the pyrG auxotrophic marker for recombinant expression in the filamentous fungus Penicillium rubens. Biotechnol Lett 2023; 45:689-702. [PMID: 37071381 DOI: 10.1007/s10529-023-03374-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/03/2023] [Revised: 02/28/2023] [Accepted: 03/31/2023] [Indexed: 04/19/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES This work aimed to construct a versatile, effective, and food-grade Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation (ATMT) system for recombinant expression in the filamentous fungus Penicillium rubens (also known as Pencillium chrysogenum). RESULTS In this study, the wild-type P. chrysogenum VTCC 31172 strain was re-classified as P. rubens by a multilocus sequencing analysis. Further, the pyrG gene required for uridine/uracil biosynthesis was successfully deleted in the VTCC 31172 strain by homologous recombination to generate a stable uridine/uracil auxotrophic mutant (ΔpyrG). The growth of the P. rubens ΔpyrG strain could be restored by uridine/uracil supplementation, and a new ATMT system based on the uridine/uracil auxotrophic mechanism was established for this strain. The optimal ATMT efficiency could reach 1750 transformants for 106 spores (equivalent to 0.18%). In addition, supplementation of uridine/uracil at the concentrations of 0.005-0.02% during the co-cultivation process significantly promoted transformation efficiency. Especially, we demonstrated that the pyrG marker and the amyB promoter from the koji mold Aspergillus oryzae were fully functional in P. rubens ΔpyrG. Expression of the DsRed reporter gene under the regulation of the A. oryzae amyB promoter lighted up the mycelium of P. rubens with a robust red signal under fluorescence microscopy. Furthermore, genomic integration of multiple copies of the Aspergillus fumigatus phyA gene under the control of the amyB promoter significantly enhanced phytase activity in P. rubens. CONCLUSIONS The ATMT system developed in our work provides a safe genetic platform for producing recombinant products in P. rubens without using drug resistance markers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Van-Tuan Tran
- National Key Laboratory of Enzyme and Protein Technology, University of Science, Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU), 334 Nguyen Trai, Thanh Xuan, Hanoi, Vietnam.
- Faculty of Biology, University of Science, Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU), 334 Nguyen Trai, Thanh Xuan, Hanoi, Vietnam.
| | - Hanh-Dung Thai
- National Key Laboratory of Enzyme and Protein Technology, University of Science, Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU), 334 Nguyen Trai, Thanh Xuan, Hanoi, Vietnam
- Faculty of Biology, University of Science, Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU), 334 Nguyen Trai, Thanh Xuan, Hanoi, Vietnam
| | - Tao Xuan Vu
- National Key Laboratory of Enzyme and Protein Technology, University of Science, Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU), 334 Nguyen Trai, Thanh Xuan, Hanoi, Vietnam
- Center for Experimental Biology, National Center for Technological Progress, Ministry of Science and Technology of Vietnam, C6 Thanh Xuan Bac, Thanh Xuan, Hanoi, Vietnam
| | - Ha Hong Vu
- National Key Laboratory of Enzyme and Protein Technology, University of Science, Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU), 334 Nguyen Trai, Thanh Xuan, Hanoi, Vietnam
| | - Giang Thu Nguyen
- National Key Laboratory of Enzyme and Protein Technology, University of Science, Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU), 334 Nguyen Trai, Thanh Xuan, Hanoi, Vietnam
| | - Minh Thi Trinh
- National Key Laboratory of Enzyme and Protein Technology, University of Science, Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU), 334 Nguyen Trai, Thanh Xuan, Hanoi, Vietnam
| | - Huyen Thi Thanh Tran
- Faculty of Biology, University of Science, Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU), 334 Nguyen Trai, Thanh Xuan, Hanoi, Vietnam
| | - Huong Thi Thu Pham
- National Key Laboratory of Enzyme and Protein Technology, University of Science, Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU), 334 Nguyen Trai, Thanh Xuan, Hanoi, Vietnam
| | - Nhung Thi Hong Le
- National Key Laboratory of Enzyme and Protein Technology, University of Science, Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU), 334 Nguyen Trai, Thanh Xuan, Hanoi, Vietnam
- Faculty of Biology, University of Science, Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU), 334 Nguyen Trai, Thanh Xuan, Hanoi, Vietnam
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6
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Quantitative characterization of filamentous fungal promoters on a single-cell resolution to discover cryptic natural products. SCIENCE CHINA LIFE SCIENCES 2022; 66:848-860. [PMID: 36287342 DOI: 10.1007/s11427-022-2175-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2022] [Accepted: 08/15/2022] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
Abstract
Characterization of filamentous fungal regulatory elements remains challenging because of time-consuming transformation technologies and limited quantitative methods. Here we established a method for quantitative assessment of filamentous fungal promoters based on flow cytometry detection of the superfolder green fluorescent protein at single-cell resolution. Using this quantitative method, we acquired a library of 93 native promoter elements from Aspergillus nidulans in a high-throughput format. The strengths of identified promoters covered a 37-fold range by flow cytometry. PzipA and PsltA were identified as the strongest promoters, which were 2.9- and 1.5-fold higher than that of the commonly used constitutive promoter PgpdA. Thus, we applied PzipA and PsltA to activate the silent nonribosomal peptide synthetase gene Afpes1 from Aspergillus fumigatus in its native host and the heterologous host A. nidulans. The metabolic products of Afpes1 were identified as new cyclic tetrapeptide derivatives, namely, fumiganins A and B. Our method provides an innovative strategy for natural product discovery in fungi.
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Feng Z, Lu X, Chen C, Huo Y, Zhou D. Transboundary intercellular communications between Penicillium and bacterial communities during sludge bulking: Inspirations on quenching fungal dominance. WATER RESEARCH 2022; 221:118829. [PMID: 35839592 DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2022.118829] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2022] [Revised: 07/01/2022] [Accepted: 07/04/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Fungal bulking is caused by the evolution toward a fungi-dominant unbalanced sludge system, which is indeed the phenomenon of fungi competing against bacterial cells. We hypothesized that the cross-kingdom intercellular communication between fungi and bacteria was internal driving force that stimulated fungal bulking. In this study, we identified three signal molecules related to Penicillium fungi bulking under low-pH stress in an activated sludge reactor, which inspired us to propose a sludge bulking prevention strategy using the quorum quenching theory. When pH dropped from 7.0 to 4.5, the abundance of Penicillium increased from 12.5% to 44.8%. However, some functional bacterial genera, such as Nitrosomonas and Sphingopyxis, were washed out from the sludge. The production of quorum-sensing (QS) molecules N-Heptanoyl-L-homoserine lactone (C7-HSL), N-Dodecanoyl-L-homoserine lactone (C12-HSL), and N-Tetradecanoyl-L-homoserine lactone (C14-HSL) was regulated with sludge bulking; especially the response of the latter two was significantly negative to Penicillium blooming (P < 0.05). To test their roles, trace commercial C12-HSL and C14-HSL were added to Penicillium culture, successfully causing 8.3% and 30.2% inhibition of mycelial formation, respectively. They also contributed to the improvement of activated sludge settleability by 6.1% and 39.7%, respectively (represented by sludge volume index). The transcriptome technique further revealed the regulation of the expression of genes in |logFC| >1, involving signal transduction, mycelium synthesis, and metabolic pathways. Our study provided an innovative strategy for controlling fungal bulking from the perspective of microbial transboundary informatics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhixuan Feng
- Jilin Engineering Lab for Water Pollution Control and Resources Recovery, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130117, China
| | - Xin Lu
- Jilin Engineering Lab for Water Pollution Control and Resources Recovery, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130117, China
| | - Congli Chen
- Jilin Engineering Lab for Water Pollution Control and Resources Recovery, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130117, China
| | - Yang Huo
- College of Physics, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130117, China.
| | - Dandan Zhou
- Jilin Engineering Lab for Water Pollution Control and Resources Recovery, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130117, China.
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8
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Fierro F, Vaca I, Castillo NI, García-Rico RO, Chávez R. Penicillium chrysogenum, a Vintage Model with a Cutting-Edge Profile in Biotechnology. Microorganisms 2022; 10:microorganisms10030573. [PMID: 35336148 PMCID: PMC8954384 DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms10030573] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/29/2021] [Revised: 02/15/2022] [Accepted: 02/17/2022] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The discovery of penicillin entailed a decisive breakthrough in medicine. No other medical advance has ever had the same impact in the clinical practise. The fungus Penicillium chrysogenum (reclassified as P. rubens) has been used for industrial production of penicillin ever since the forties of the past century; industrial biotechnology developed hand in hand with it, and currently P. chrysogenum is a thoroughly studied model for secondary metabolite production and regulation. In addition to its role as penicillin producer, recent synthetic biology advances have put P. chrysogenum on the path to become a cell factory for the production of metabolites with biotechnological interest. In this review, we tell the history of P. chrysogenum, from the discovery of penicillin and the first isolation of strains with high production capacity to the most recent research advances with the fungus. We will describe how classical strain improvement programs achieved the goal of increasing production and how the development of different molecular tools allowed further improvements. The discovery of the penicillin gene cluster, the origin of the penicillin genes, the regulation of penicillin production, and a compilation of other P. chrysogenum secondary metabolites will also be covered and updated in this work.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francisco Fierro
- Departamento de Biotecnología, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Unidad Iztapalapa, Ciudad de México 09340, Mexico
- Correspondence:
| | - Inmaculada Vaca
- Departamento de Química, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, Santiago 7800003, Chile;
| | - Nancy I. Castillo
- Grupo de Investigación en Ciencias Biológicas y Químicas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Antonio Nariño, Bogotá 110231, Colombia;
| | - Ramón Ovidio García-Rico
- Grupo de Investigación GIMBIO, Departamento De Microbiología, Facultad de Ciencias Básicas, Universidad de Pamplona, Pamplona 543050, Colombia;
| | - Renato Chávez
- Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Química y Biología, Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Santiago 9170020, Chile;
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9
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Gandía M, Moreno-Giménez E, Giner-Llorca M, Garrigues S, Ropero-Pérez C, Locascio A, Martínez-Culebras PV, Marcos JF, Manzanares P. Development of a FungalBraid Penicillium expansum-based expression system for the production of antifungal proteins in fungal biofactories. Microb Biotechnol 2022; 15:630-647. [PMID: 35084102 PMCID: PMC8867986 DOI: 10.1111/1751-7915.14006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2021] [Accepted: 01/10/2022] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Fungal antifungal proteins (AFPs) have attracted attention as novel biofungicides. Their exploitation requires safe and cost‐effective producing biofactories. Previously, Penicillium chrysogenum and Penicillium digitatum produced recombinant AFPs with the use of a P. chrysogenum‐based expression system that consisted of the paf gene promoter, signal peptide (SP)‐pro sequence and terminator. Here, the regulatory elements of the afpA gene encoding the highly produced PeAfpA from Penicillium expansum were developed as an expression system for AFP production through the FungalBraid platform. The afpA cassette was tested to produce PeAfpA and P. digitatum PdAfpB in P. chrysogenum and P. digitatum, and its efficiency was compared to that of the paf cassette. Recombinant PeAfpA production was only achieved using the afpA cassette, being P. chrysogenum a more efficient biofactory than P. digitatum. Conversely, P. chrysogenum only produced PdAfpB under the control of the paf cassette. In P. digitatum, both expression systems allowed PdAfpB production, with the paf cassette resulting in higher protein yields. Interestingly, these results did not correlate with the performance of both promoters in a luciferase reporter system. In conclusion, AFP production is a complex outcome that depends on the regulatory sequences driving afp expression, the fungal biofactory and the AFP sequence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mónica Gandía
- Food Biotechnology Department, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Instituto de Agroquímica y Tecnología de Alimentos (IATA), Catedrático Agustín Escardino Benlloch 7, Paterna, Valencia, 46980, Spain
| | - Elena Moreno-Giménez
- Food Biotechnology Department, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Instituto de Agroquímica y Tecnología de Alimentos (IATA), Catedrático Agustín Escardino Benlloch 7, Paterna, Valencia, 46980, Spain.,Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Plantas (IBMCP), Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Valencia, Spain
| | - Moisés Giner-Llorca
- Food Biotechnology Department, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Instituto de Agroquímica y Tecnología de Alimentos (IATA), Catedrático Agustín Escardino Benlloch 7, Paterna, Valencia, 46980, Spain
| | - Sandra Garrigues
- Food Biotechnology Department, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Instituto de Agroquímica y Tecnología de Alimentos (IATA), Catedrático Agustín Escardino Benlloch 7, Paterna, Valencia, 46980, Spain
| | - Carolina Ropero-Pérez
- Food Biotechnology Department, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Instituto de Agroquímica y Tecnología de Alimentos (IATA), Catedrático Agustín Escardino Benlloch 7, Paterna, Valencia, 46980, Spain
| | - Antonella Locascio
- Food Biotechnology Department, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Instituto de Agroquímica y Tecnología de Alimentos (IATA), Catedrático Agustín Escardino Benlloch 7, Paterna, Valencia, 46980, Spain
| | - Pedro V Martínez-Culebras
- Food Biotechnology Department, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Instituto de Agroquímica y Tecnología de Alimentos (IATA), Catedrático Agustín Escardino Benlloch 7, Paterna, Valencia, 46980, Spain.,Departamento de Medicina Preventiva y Salud Pública, Ciencias de la Alimentación, Bromatología, Toxicología y Medicina Legal, Universitat de València, Vicente Andrés Estellés s/n, Valencia, 46100, Spain
| | - Jose F Marcos
- Food Biotechnology Department, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Instituto de Agroquímica y Tecnología de Alimentos (IATA), Catedrático Agustín Escardino Benlloch 7, Paterna, Valencia, 46980, Spain
| | - Paloma Manzanares
- Food Biotechnology Department, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Instituto de Agroquímica y Tecnología de Alimentos (IATA), Catedrático Agustín Escardino Benlloch 7, Paterna, Valencia, 46980, Spain
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10
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Biosynthetic process and strain improvement approaches for industrial penicillin production. Biotechnol Lett 2022; 44:179-192. [PMID: 35000028 DOI: 10.1007/s10529-022-03222-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/13/2021] [Accepted: 01/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
Abstract
Penicillins and cephalosporins are the most important class of beta (β) lactam antibiotics, accounting for 65% total antibiotic market. Penicillins are produced by Penicillium rubens (popularly known as P. chrysogenum) were used to synthesize the active pharmaceutical intermediate (API), 6-aminopenicillinic acid (6-APA) employed in semisynthetic antibiotic production. The wild strains produce a negligible amount of penicillin (Pen). High antibiotic titre-producing P. chrysogenum strains are necessitating for industrial Pen production to meet global demand at lower prices. Classical strain improvement (CSI) approaches such as random mutagenesis, medium engineering, and fermentation are the cornerstones for high-titer Pen production. Since, Sir Alexander Fleming Discovery of Pen, great efforts are expanded to develop at a commercial scale antibiotics producing strains. Breakthroughs in genetic engineering, heterologous expression and CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing tools opened a new window for Pen production at a commercial scale to assure health crisis. The current state of knowledge, limitations of CSI and genetic engineering approaches to Pen production are discussed in this review.
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11
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Mózsik L, Pohl C, Meyer V, Bovenberg RAL, Nygård Y, Driessen AJM. Modular Synthetic Biology Toolkit for Filamentous Fungi. ACS Synth Biol 2021; 10:2850-2861. [PMID: 34726388 PMCID: PMC8609570 DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.1c00260] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
Abstract
![]()
Filamentous fungi
are highly productive cell factories, often used
in industry for the production of enzymes and small bioactive compounds.
Recent years have seen an increasing number of synthetic-biology-based
applications in fungi, emphasizing the need for a synthetic biology
toolkit for these organisms. Here we present a collection of 96 genetic
parts, characterized in Penicillium or Aspergillus species, that are
compatible and interchangeable with the Modular Cloning system. The
toolkit contains natural and synthetic promoters (constitutive and
inducible), terminators, fluorescent reporters, and selection markers.
Furthermore, there are regulatory and DNA-binding domains of transcriptional
regulators and components for implementing different CRISPR-based
technologies. Genetic parts can be assembled into complex multipartite
assemblies and delivered through genomic integration or expressed
from an AMA1-sequence-based, fungal-replicating shuttle vector. With
this toolkit, synthetic transcription units with established promoters,
fusion proteins, or synthetic transcriptional regulation devices can
be more rapidly assembled in a standardized and modular manner for
novel fungal cell factories.
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Affiliation(s)
- László Mózsik
- Molecular Microbiology, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Carsten Pohl
- Chair of Applied and Molecular Microbiology, Institute of Biotechnology, Technische Universität Berlin, 10623 Berlin, Germany
| | - Vera Meyer
- Chair of Applied and Molecular Microbiology, Institute of Biotechnology, Technische Universität Berlin, 10623 Berlin, Germany
| | - Roel A. L. Bovenberg
- DSM Biotechnology Center, 2613 AX Delft, The Netherlands
- Synthetic Biology and Cell Engineering, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Yvonne Nygård
- Department of Biology and Biological Engineering, Division of Industrial Biotechnology, Chalmers University of Technology, 412 96 Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Arnold J. M. Driessen
- Molecular Microbiology, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands
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12
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Meng X, Fang Y, Ding M, Zhang Y, Jia K, Li Z, Collemare J, Liu W. Developing fungal heterologous expression platforms to explore and improve the production of natural products from fungal biodiversity. Biotechnol Adv 2021; 54:107866. [PMID: 34780934 DOI: 10.1016/j.biotechadv.2021.107866] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/05/2021] [Revised: 10/04/2021] [Accepted: 11/05/2021] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Natural products from fungi represent an important source of biologically active metabolites notably for therapeutic agent development. Genome sequencing revealed that the number of biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) in fungi is much larger than expected. Unfortunately, most of them are silent or barely expressed under laboratory culture conditions. Moreover, many fungi in nature are uncultivable or cannot be genetically manipulated, restricting the extraction and identification of bioactive metabolites from these species. Rapid exploration of the tremendous number of cryptic fungal BGCs necessitates the development of heterologous expression platforms, which will facilitate the efficient production of natural products in fungal cell factories. Host selection, BGC assembly methods, promoters used for heterologous gene expression, metabolic engineering strategies and compartmentalization of biosynthetic pathways are key aspects for consideration to develop such a microbial platform. In the present review, we summarize current progress on the above challenges to promote research effort in the relevant fields.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiangfeng Meng
- State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology, Microbial Technology Institute, Shandong University, No. 72 Binhai Road, Qingdao 266237, PR China
| | - Yu Fang
- State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology, Microbial Technology Institute, Shandong University, No. 72 Binhai Road, Qingdao 266237, PR China
| | - Mingyang Ding
- State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology, Microbial Technology Institute, Shandong University, No. 72 Binhai Road, Qingdao 266237, PR China
| | - Yanyu Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology, Microbial Technology Institute, Shandong University, No. 72 Binhai Road, Qingdao 266237, PR China
| | - Kaili Jia
- State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology, Microbial Technology Institute, Shandong University, No. 72 Binhai Road, Qingdao 266237, PR China
| | - Zhongye Li
- State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology, Microbial Technology Institute, Shandong University, No. 72 Binhai Road, Qingdao 266237, PR China
| | - Jérôme Collemare
- Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute, Uppsalalaan 8, 3584 CT Utrecht, the Netherlands.
| | - Weifeng Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology, Microbial Technology Institute, Shandong University, No. 72 Binhai Road, Qingdao 266237, PR China.
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13
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New Promoters for Metabolic Engineering of Ashbya gossypii. J Fungi (Basel) 2021; 7:jof7110906. [PMID: 34829195 PMCID: PMC8618306 DOI: 10.3390/jof7110906] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2021] [Revised: 10/21/2021] [Accepted: 10/24/2021] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Ashbya gossypii is a filamentous fungus that is currently exploited for the industrial production of riboflavin. In addition, metabolically engineered strains of A. gossypii have also been described as valuable biocatalysts for the production of different metabolites such as folic acid, nucleosides, and biolipids. Hence, bioproduction in A. gossypii relies on the availability of well-performing gene expression systems both for endogenous and heterologous genes. In this regard, the identification of novel promoters, which are critical elements for gene expression, decisively helps to expand the A. gossypii molecular toolbox. In this work, we present an adaptation of the Dual Luciferase Reporter (DLR) Assay for promoter analysis in A. gossypii using integrative cassettes. We demonstrate the efficiency of the analysis through the identification of 10 new promoters with different features, including carbon source-regulatable abilities, that will highly improve the gene expression platforms used in A. gossypii. Three novel strong promoters (PCCW12, PSED1, and PTSA1) and seven medium/weak promoters (PHSP26, PAGL366C, PTMA10, PCWP1, PAFR038W, PPFS1, and PCDA2) are presented. The functionality of the promoters was further evaluated both for the overexpression and for the underexpression of the A. gossypii MSN2 gene, which induced significant changes in the sporulation ability of the mutant strains.
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14
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Tamminen A, Happonen P, Barth D, Holmström S, Wiebe MG. High throughput, small scale methods to characterise the growth of marine fungi. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0236822. [PMID: 32764772 PMCID: PMC7413501 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0236822] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2020] [Accepted: 07/14/2020] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Various marine fungi have been shown to produce interesting, bioactive compounds, but scaling up the production of these compounds can be challenging, particularly because little is generally known about how the producing organisms grow. Here we assessed the suitability of using 100-well BioScreen plates or 96-well plates incubated in a robot hotel to cultivate eight filamentous marine fungi, six sporulating and two non-sporulating, to obtain data on growth and substrate (glucose, xylose, galactose or glycerol) utilisation in a high throughput manner. All eight fungi grew in both cultivation systems, but growth was more variable and with more noise in the data in the Cytomat plate hotel than in the BioScreen. Specific growth rates between 0.01 (no added substrate) and 0.07 h-1 were measured for strains growing in the BioScreen and between 0.01 and 0.27 h-1 for strains in the plate hotel. Three strains, Dendryphiella salina LF304, Penicillium chrysogenum KF657 and Penicillium pinophilum LF458, consistently had higher specific growth rates on glucose and xylose in the plate hotel than in the BioScreen, but otherwise results were similar in the two systems. However, because of the noise in data from the plate hotel, the data obtained from it could only be used to distinguish between substrates which did or did not support growth, whereas data from BioScreen also provided information on substrate preference. Glucose was the preferred substrate for all strains, followed by xylose and galactose. Five strains also grew on glycerol. Therefore it was important to minimise the amount of glycerol introduced with the inoculum to avoid misinterpreting the results for growth on poor substrates. We concluded that both systems could provide physiological data with filamentous fungi, provided sufficient replicates are included in the measurements.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anu Tamminen
- VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd, Espoo, Finland
| | - Petrus Happonen
- VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd, Espoo, Finland
| | - Dorothee Barth
- VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd, Espoo, Finland
| | - Sami Holmström
- VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd, Espoo, Finland
| | - Marilyn G. Wiebe
- VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd, Espoo, Finland
- * E-mail:
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15
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Pohl C, Polli F, Schütze T, Viggiano A, Mózsik L, Jung S, de Vries M, Bovenberg RAL, Meyer V, Driessen AJM. A Penicillium rubens platform strain for secondary metabolite production. Sci Rep 2020; 10:7630. [PMID: 32376967 PMCID: PMC7203126 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-64893-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/21/2019] [Accepted: 04/08/2020] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
We present a Penicillium rubens strain with an industrial background in which the four highly expressed biosynthetic gene clusters (BGC) required to produce penicillin, roquefortine, chrysogine and fungisporin were removed. This resulted in a minimal secondary metabolite background. Amino acid pools under steady-state growth conditions showed reduced levels of methionine and increased intracellular aromatic amino acids. Expression profiling of remaining BGC core genes and untargeted mass spectrometry did not identify products from uncharacterized BGCs. This platform strain was repurposed for expression of the recently identified polyketide calbistrin gene cluster and achieved high yields of decumbenone A, B and C. The penicillin BGC could be restored through in vivo assembly with eight DNA segments with short overlaps. Our study paves the way for fast combinatorial assembly and expression of biosynthetic pathways in a fungal strain with low endogenous secondary metabolite burden.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carsten Pohl
- Molecular Microbiology, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
- Technische Universität Berlin, Faculty III Process Sciences, Institute of Biotechnology, Chair of Applied and Molecular Microbiology, Berlin, Germany
| | - Fabiola Polli
- Molecular Microbiology, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Tabea Schütze
- Applied and Molecular Microbiology, Institute of Biotechnology, TU Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Annarita Viggiano
- Molecular Microbiology, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - László Mózsik
- Molecular Microbiology, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Sascha Jung
- Applied and Molecular Microbiology, Institute of Biotechnology, TU Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Maaike de Vries
- Molecular Microbiology, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Roel A L Bovenberg
- DSM Biotechnology Centre, Delft, The Netherlands
- Synthetic Biology and Cell Engineering, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Vera Meyer
- Applied and Molecular Microbiology, Institute of Biotechnology, TU Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Arnold J M Driessen
- Molecular Microbiology, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
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16
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Umemura M, Kuriiwa K, Dao LV, Okuda T, Terai G. Promoter tools for further development of Aspergillus oryzae as a platform for fungal secondary metabolite production. Fungal Biol Biotechnol 2020; 7:3. [PMID: 32211196 PMCID: PMC7092444 DOI: 10.1186/s40694-020-00093-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/30/2019] [Accepted: 03/05/2020] [Indexed: 01/14/2023] Open
Abstract
Background The filamentous fungus Aspergillus oryzae is widely used for secondary metabolite production by heterologous expression; thus, a wide variety of promoter tools is necessary to broaden the application of this species. Here we built a procedure to survey A. flavus genes constitutively highly expressed in 83 transcriptome datasets obtained under various conditions affecting secondary metabolite production, to find promoters useful for heterologous expression of genes in A. oryzae. Results To test the ability of the promoters of the top 6 genes to induce production of a fungal secondary metabolite, ustiloxin B, we inserted the promoters before the start codon of ustR, which encodes the transcription factor of the gene cluster responsible for ustiloxin B biosynthesis, in A. oryzae. Four of the 6 promoters induced ustiloxin B production in all tested media (solid maize, liquid V8 and PDB media), and also ustR expression. Two of the 4 promoters were those of tef1 and gpdA, which are well characterized in A. oryzae and A. nidulans, respectively, whereas the other two, those of AFLA_030930 and AFLA_113120, are newly reported here and show activities comparable to that of the gpdA promoter with respect to induction of gene expression and ustiloxin B production. Conclusion We newly reported two sequences as promoter tools for secondary metabolite production in A. oryzae. Our results demonstrate that our simple strategy of surveying for constitutively highly expressed genes in large-scale transcriptome datasets is useful for finding promoter sequences that can be used as heterologous expression tools in A. oryzae.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maiko Umemura
- 1Bioproduction Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Ibaraki, 305-8566 Japan.,2Computational Bio Big Data Open Innovation Laboratory, AIST, Ibaraki, 305-8566 Japan
| | - Kaoru Kuriiwa
- 1Bioproduction Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Ibaraki, 305-8566 Japan.,3Department of Zoology, National Museum of Nature and Science, Ibaraki, 305-0005 Japan
| | - Linh Viet Dao
- 1Bioproduction Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Ibaraki, 305-8566 Japan.,5Present Address: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, National University of Singapore, 4 Engineering Drive 3, Singapore, 117583 Singapore
| | - Tetsuya Okuda
- 1Bioproduction Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Ibaraki, 305-8566 Japan
| | - Goro Terai
- 4Department of Computational Biology and Medical Sciences, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, University of Tokyo, Chiba, 277-8561 Japan
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17
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Deng H, Bai Y, Fan TP, Zheng X, Cai Y. Advanced strategy for metabolite exploration in filamentous fungi. Crit Rev Biotechnol 2020; 40:180-198. [PMID: 31906740 DOI: 10.1080/07388551.2019.1709798] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
Filamentous fungi comprise an abundance of gene clusters that encode high-value metabolites, whereas affluent gene clusters remain silent during laboratory conditions. Complex cellular metabolism further limits these metabolite yields. Therefore, diverse strategies such as genetic engineering and chemical mutagenesis have been developed to activate these cryptic pathways and improve metabolite productivity. However, lower efficiencies of gene modifications and screen tools delayed the above processes. To address the above issues, this review describes an alternative design-construction evaluation optimization (DCEO) approach. The DCEO tool provides theoretical and practical principles to identify potential pathways, modify endogenous pathways, integrate exogenous pathways, and exploit novel pathways for their diverse metabolites and desirable productivities. This DCEO method also offers different tactics to balance the cellular metabolisms, facilitate the genetic engineering, and exploit the scalable metabolites in filamentous fungi.
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Affiliation(s)
- Huaxiang Deng
- The Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiangsu, China.,Center for Synthetic Biochemistry, Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technologies, Shenzhen, China
| | - Yajun Bai
- College of Life Sciences, Northwest University, Xi'an, Shanxi, China
| | - Tai-Ping Fan
- Department of Pharmacology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Xiaohui Zheng
- College of Life Sciences, Northwest University, Xi'an, Shanxi, China
| | - Yujie Cai
- The Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiangsu, China
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18
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Rendsvig JKH, Workman CT, Hoof JB. Bidirectional histone-gene promoters in Aspergillus: characterization and application for multi-gene expression. Fungal Biol Biotechnol 2019; 6:24. [PMID: 31867115 PMCID: PMC6900853 DOI: 10.1186/s40694-019-0088-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/21/2019] [Accepted: 11/23/2019] [Indexed: 02/01/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Filamentous fungi are important producers of enzymes and bioactive secondary metabolites and are exploited for industrial purposes. Expression and characterization of biosynthetic pathways requires stable expression of multiple genes in the production host. Fungal promoters are indispensable for the accomplishment of this task, and libraries of promoters that show functionality across diverse fungal species facilitate synthetic biology approaches, pathway expression, and cell-factory construction. RESULTS In this study, we characterized the intergenic region between the genes encoding histones H4.1 and H3, from five phylogenetically diverse species of Aspergillus, as bidirectional promoters (Ph4h3). By expression of the genes encoding fluorescent proteins mRFP1 and mCitrine, we show at the translational and transcriptional level that this region from diverse species is applicable as strong and constitutive bidirectional promoters in Aspergillus nidulans. Bioinformatic analysis showed that the divergent gene orientation of h4.1 and h3 appears maintained among fungi, and that the Ph4h3 display conserved DNA motifs among the investigated 85 Aspergilli. Two of the heterologous Ph4h3s were utilized for single-locus expression of four genes from the putative malformin producing pathway from Aspergillus brasiliensis in A. nidulans. Strikingly, heterologous expression of mlfA encoding the non-ribosomal peptide synthetase is sufficient for biosynthesis of malformins in A. nidulans, which indicates an iterative use of one adenylation domain in the enzyme. However, this resulted in highly stressed colonies, which was reverted to a healthy phenotype by co-expressing the residual four genes from the putative biosynthetic gene cluster. CONCLUSIONS Our study has documented that Ph4h3 is a strong constitutive bidirectional promoter and a valuable new addition to the genetic toolbox of at least the genus Aspergillus.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jakob K. H. Rendsvig
- Department of Biotechnology and Biomedicine, Technical University of Denmark, 2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Christopher T. Workman
- Department of Biotechnology and Biomedicine, Technical University of Denmark, 2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Jakob B. Hoof
- Department of Biotechnology and Biomedicine, Technical University of Denmark, 2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
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19
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Mózsik L, Büttel Z, Bovenberg RAL, Driessen AJM, Nygård Y. Synthetic control devices for gene regulation in Penicillium chrysogenum. Microb Cell Fact 2019; 18:203. [PMID: 31739777 PMCID: PMC6859608 DOI: 10.1186/s12934-019-1253-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/16/2019] [Accepted: 11/10/2019] [Indexed: 12/01/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Orthogonal, synthetic control devices were developed for Penicillium chrysogenum, a model filamentous fungus and industrially relevant cell factory. In the synthetic transcription factor, the QF DNA-binding domain of the transcription factor of the quinic acid gene cluster of Neurospora crassa is fused to the VP16 activation domain. This synthetic transcription factor controls the expression of genes under a synthetic promoter containing quinic acid upstream activating sequence (QUAS) elements, where it binds. A gene cluster may demand an expression tuned individually for each gene, which is a great advantage provided by this system. Results The control devices were characterized with respect to three of their main components: expression of the synthetic transcription factors, upstream activating sequences, and the affinity of the DNA binding domain of the transcription factor to the upstream activating domain. This resulted in synthetic expression devices, with an expression ranging from hardly detectable to a level similar to that of highest expressed native genes. The versatility of the control device was demonstrated by fluorescent reporters and its application was confirmed by synthetically controlling the production of penicillin. Conclusions The characterization of the control devices in microbioreactors, proved to give excellent indications for how the devices function in production strains and conditions. We anticipate that these well-characterized and robustly performing control devices can be widely applied for the production of secondary metabolites and other compounds in filamentous fungi.![]()
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Affiliation(s)
- László Mózsik
- Molecular Microbiology, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Zsófia Büttel
- Molecular Microbiology, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Roel A L Bovenberg
- DSM Biotechnology Center, Alexander Fleminglaan 1, 2613 AX, Delft, The Netherlands.,Synthetic Biology and Cell Engineering, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Arnold J M Driessen
- Molecular Microbiology, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Yvonne Nygård
- Molecular Microbiology, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG, Groningen, The Netherlands. .,DSM Biotechnology Center, Alexander Fleminglaan 1, 2613 AX, Delft, The Netherlands. .,Division of Industrial Biotechnology, Department of Biology and Biological Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, Kemivägen 10, 412 96, Gothenburg, Sweden.
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20
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Zwahlen RD, Pohl C, Bovenberg RAL, Driessen AJM. Bacterial MbtH-like Proteins Stimulate Nonribosomal Peptide Synthetase-Derived Secondary Metabolism in Filamentous Fungi. ACS Synth Biol 2019; 8:1776-1787. [PMID: 31284717 PMCID: PMC6713467 DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.9b00106] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Abstract
Filamentous fungi are known producers of bioactive natural products, low molecular weight molecules that arise from secondary metabolism. MbtH-like proteins (MLPs) are small (∼10 kDa) proteins, which associate noncovalently with adenylation domains of some bacterial nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPS). MLPs promote the folding, stability, and activity of NRPS enzymes. MLPs are highly conserved among a wide range of bacteria; however, they are absent from all fungal species sequenced to date. We analyzed the interaction potential of bacterial MLPs with eukaryotic NRPS enzymes first using crystal structures, with results suggesting a conservation of the interaction surface. Subsequently, we transformed five MLPs into Penicillium chrysogenum strains and analyzed changes in NRPS-derived metabolite profiles. Three of the five transformed MLPs increased the rate of nonribosomal peptide formation and elevated the concentrations of intermediate and final products of the penicillin, roquefortine, chrysogine, and fungisporin biosynthetic pathways. Our results suggest that even though MLPs are not found in the fungal domain of life, they can be used in fungal hosts as a tool for natural product discovery and biotechnological production.
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Affiliation(s)
- Reto D. Zwahlen
- Molecular Microbiology, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Carsten Pohl
- Molecular Microbiology, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Roel A. L. Bovenberg
- Synthetic Biology and Cell Engineering, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands
- DSM Biotechnology Centre, 2613 AX Delft, The Netherlands
| | - Arnold J. M. Driessen
- Molecular Microbiology, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands
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21
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Gene expression engineering in fungi. Curr Opin Biotechnol 2019; 59:141-149. [PMID: 31154079 DOI: 10.1016/j.copbio.2019.04.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/26/2018] [Revised: 03/27/2019] [Accepted: 04/24/2019] [Indexed: 02/03/2023]
Abstract
Fungi are a highly diverse group of microbial species that possess a plethora of biotechnologically useful metabolic and physiological properties. Important enablers for fungal biology studies and their biotechnological use are well-performing gene expression tools. Different types of gene expression tools exist; however, typically they are at best only functional in one or a few closely related species. This has hampered research and development of industrially relevant production systems. Here, we review operational principles and concepts of fungal gene expression tools. We present an overview on tools that utilize endogenous fungal promoters and modified hybrid expression systems composed of engineered promoters and transcription factors. Finally, we review synthetic expression tools that are functional across a broad range of fungal species.
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22
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Guzmán-Chávez F, Zwahlen RD, Bovenberg RAL, Driessen AJM. Engineering of the Filamentous Fungus Penicillium chrysogenum as Cell Factory for Natural Products. Front Microbiol 2018; 9:2768. [PMID: 30524395 PMCID: PMC6262359 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2018.02768] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/19/2018] [Accepted: 10/29/2018] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Penicillium chrysogenum (renamed P. rubens) is the most studied member of a family of more than 350 Penicillium species that constitute the genus. Since the discovery of penicillin by Alexander Fleming, this filamentous fungus is used as a commercial β-lactam antibiotic producer. For several decades, P. chrysogenum was subjected to a classical strain improvement (CSI) program to increase penicillin titers. This resulted in a massive increase in the penicillin production capacity, paralleled by the silencing of several other biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs), causing a reduction in the production of a broad range of BGC encoded natural products (NPs). Several approaches have been used to restore the ability of the penicillin production strains to synthetize the NPs lost during the CSI. Here, we summarize various re-activation mechanisms of BGCs, and how interference with regulation can be used as a strategy to activate or silence BGCs in filamentous fungi. To further emphasize the versatility of P. chrysogenum as a fungal production platform for NPs with potential commercial value, protein engineering of biosynthetic enzymes is discussed as a tool to develop de novo BGC pathways for new NPs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fernando Guzmán-Chávez
- Molecular Microbiology, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands.,Synthetic Biology and Cell Engineering, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
| | - Reto D Zwahlen
- Molecular Microbiology, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands.,Synthetic Biology and Cell Engineering, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
| | - Roel A L Bovenberg
- Synthetic Biology and Cell Engineering, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands.,DSM Biotechnology Centre, Delft, Netherlands
| | - Arnold J M Driessen
- Molecular Microbiology, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands.,Synthetic Biology and Cell Engineering, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
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Hernanz-Koers M, Gandía M, Garrigues S, Manzanares P, Yenush L, Orzaez D, Marcos JF. FungalBraid: A GoldenBraid-based modular cloning platform for the assembly and exchange of DNA elements tailored to fungal synthetic biology. Fungal Genet Biol 2018; 116:51-61. [DOI: 10.1016/j.fgb.2018.04.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2017] [Revised: 04/17/2018] [Accepted: 04/18/2018] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
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24
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Collins JH, Young EM. Genetic engineering of host organisms for pharmaceutical synthesis. Curr Opin Biotechnol 2018; 53:191-200. [PMID: 29471209 DOI: 10.1016/j.copbio.2018.02.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2017] [Revised: 01/29/2018] [Accepted: 02/05/2018] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
Pharmaceutical production hosts may be derived from almost any organism, from Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cell lines to isolated actinomycetes. Each host can be improved, historically only through adaptive evolution. Recently, the maturation of organism engineering has expanded the available models, methods, and tools for altering host phenotypes. New tools like CRISPR-associated endonucleases promise to enable precise cellular reprogramming and to access previously intractable hosts. In this review, we discuss the most recent advances in engineering several types of pharmaceutical production hosts. These include model organisms, potential platform hosts with advantageous metabolism or physiology, specialized producers capable of unique biosynthesis, and CHO, the most widely used recombinant protein production host. To realize improved engineered hosts, an increasing number of approaches involving DNA sequencing and synthesis, host rewriting technologies, computational methods, and organism engineering strategies must be used. Integrative workflows that enable application of the right combination of methods to the right production host could enable economical production solutions for emerging human health treatments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joseph H Collins
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 100 Institute Road, Worcester, MA 01609, United States
| | - Eric M Young
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 100 Institute Road, Worcester, MA 01609, United States.
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25
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Zambanini T, Hartmann SK, Schmitz LM, Büttner L, Hosseinpour Tehrani H, Geiser E, Beudels M, Venc D, Wandrey G, Büchs J, Schwarzländer M, Blank LM, Wierckx N. Promoters from the itaconate cluster of Ustilago maydis are induced by nitrogen depletion. Fungal Biol Biotechnol 2017; 4:11. [PMID: 29209508 PMCID: PMC5706154 DOI: 10.1186/s40694-017-0040-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2017] [Accepted: 11/18/2017] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Ustilago maydis is known for its natural potential to produce a broad range of valuable chemicals, such as itaconate, from both industrial carbon waste streams and renewable biomass. Production of itaconate, and many other secondary metabolites, is induced by nitrogen limitation in U. maydis. The clustered genes responsible for itaconate production have recently been identified, enabling the development of new expression tools that are compatible with biotechnological processes. Results Here we report on the investigation of two of the native promoters, Ptad1 and Pmtt1, from the itaconate cluster of U. maydis MB215. For both promoters the specific activation upon nitrogen limitation, which is known to be the trigger for itaconate production in Ustilago, could be demonstrated by gfp expression. The promoters cover a broad range of expression levels, especially when combined with the possibility to create single- and multicopy construct integration events. In addition, these reporter constructs enable a functional characterization of gene induction patterns associated with itaconate production. Conclusions The promoters are well suited to induce gene expression in response to nitrogen limitation, coupled to the itaconate production phase, which contributes towards the further improvement of organic acid production with Ustilago.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thiemo Zambanini
- Institute of Applied Microbiology - iAMB, Aachen Biology and Biotechnology - ABBt, RWTH Aachen University, Worringerweg 1, Aachen, 52074 Germany
| | - Sandra K Hartmann
- Institute of Applied Microbiology - iAMB, Aachen Biology and Biotechnology - ABBt, RWTH Aachen University, Worringerweg 1, Aachen, 52074 Germany.,BioSC, c/o Forschungszentrum Jülich, 52425 Jülich, Germany
| | - Lisa M Schmitz
- Institute of Applied Microbiology - iAMB, Aachen Biology and Biotechnology - ABBt, RWTH Aachen University, Worringerweg 1, Aachen, 52074 Germany
| | - Linda Büttner
- Department of Biology, Philipps-University Marburg, Karl-von-Frisch-Straße 8, 35032 Marburg, Germany
| | - Hamed Hosseinpour Tehrani
- Institute of Applied Microbiology - iAMB, Aachen Biology and Biotechnology - ABBt, RWTH Aachen University, Worringerweg 1, Aachen, 52074 Germany
| | - Elena Geiser
- Institute of Applied Microbiology - iAMB, Aachen Biology and Biotechnology - ABBt, RWTH Aachen University, Worringerweg 1, Aachen, 52074 Germany
| | - Melanie Beudels
- Institute of Applied Microbiology - iAMB, Aachen Biology and Biotechnology - ABBt, RWTH Aachen University, Worringerweg 1, Aachen, 52074 Germany
| | - Dominik Venc
- Institute of Applied Microbiology - iAMB, Aachen Biology and Biotechnology - ABBt, RWTH Aachen University, Worringerweg 1, Aachen, 52074 Germany
| | - Georg Wandrey
- AVT-Aachener Verfahrenstechnik, Biochemical Engineering, RWTH Aachen University, Forckenbeckstraße 51, 52074 Aachen, Germany
| | - Jochen Büchs
- AVT-Aachener Verfahrenstechnik, Biochemical Engineering, RWTH Aachen University, Forckenbeckstraße 51, 52074 Aachen, Germany
| | - Markus Schwarzländer
- BioSC, c/o Forschungszentrum Jülich, 52425 Jülich, Germany.,Institute of Crop Science and Resource Conservation (INRES), Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, 53113 Bonn, Germany.,Institute of Plant Biology and Biotechnology (IBBP), Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, 48143 Münster, Germany
| | - Lars M Blank
- Institute of Applied Microbiology - iAMB, Aachen Biology and Biotechnology - ABBt, RWTH Aachen University, Worringerweg 1, Aachen, 52074 Germany
| | - Nick Wierckx
- Institute of Applied Microbiology - iAMB, Aachen Biology and Biotechnology - ABBt, RWTH Aachen University, Worringerweg 1, Aachen, 52074 Germany
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26
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Garrigues S, Gandía M, Popa C, Borics A, Marx F, Coca M, Marcos JF, Manzanares P. Efficient production and characterization of the novel and highly active antifungal protein AfpB from Penicillium digitatum. Sci Rep 2017; 7:14663. [PMID: 29116156 PMCID: PMC5677034 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-15277-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2017] [Accepted: 10/24/2017] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Filamentous fungi encode distinct antifungal proteins (AFPs) that offer great potential to develop new antifungals. Fungi are considered immune to their own AFPs as occurs in Penicillium chrysogenum, the producer of the well-known PAF. The Penicillium digitatum genome encodes only one afp gene (afpB), and the corresponding protein (AfpB) belongs to the class B phylogenetic cluster. Previous attempts to detect AfpB were not successful. In this work, immunodetection confirmed the absence of AfpB accumulation in wild type and previous recombinant constitutive P. digitatum strains. Biotechnological production and secretion of AfpB were achieved in P. digitatum with the use of a P. chrysogenum-based expression cassette and in the yeast Pichia pastoris with the α-factor signal peptide. Both strategies allowed proper protein folding, efficient production and single-step purification of AfpB from culture supernatants. AfpB showed antifungal activity higher than the P. chrysogenum PAF against the majority of the fungi tested, especially against Penicillium species and including P. digitatum, which was highly sensitive to the self-AfpB. Spectroscopic data suggest that native folding is not required for activity. AfpB also showed notable ability to withstand protease and thermal degradation and no haemolytic activity, making AfpB a promising candidate for the control of pathogenic fungi.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sandra Garrigues
- Department of Biotechnology, Instituto de Agroquímica y Tecnología de Alimentos (IATA), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Paterna, Valencia, Spain
| | - Mónica Gandía
- Department of Biotechnology, Instituto de Agroquímica y Tecnología de Alimentos (IATA), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Paterna, Valencia, Spain
| | - Crina Popa
- Centre for Research in Agricultural Genomics (CRAG), CSIC-IRTA-UAB-UB. Edifici CRAG, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Attila Borics
- Institute of Biochemistry, Biological Research Centre of Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Szeged, Hungary
| | - Florentine Marx
- Biocenter, Division of Molecular Biology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - María Coca
- Centre for Research in Agricultural Genomics (CRAG), CSIC-IRTA-UAB-UB. Edifici CRAG, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Jose F Marcos
- Department of Biotechnology, Instituto de Agroquímica y Tecnología de Alimentos (IATA), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Paterna, Valencia, Spain
| | - Paloma Manzanares
- Department of Biotechnology, Instituto de Agroquímica y Tecnología de Alimentos (IATA), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Paterna, Valencia, Spain.
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Abstract
GeneMill officially launched on 4th February 2016 and is an open access academic facility located at The University of Liverpool that has been established for the high-throughput construction and testing of synthetic DNA constructs. GeneMill provides end-to-end design, construction and phenotypic characterization of small to large gene constructs or genetic circuits/pathways for academic and industrial applications. Thus, GeneMill is equipping the scientific community with easy access to the validated tools required to explore the possibilities of Synthetic Biology.
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28
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French KE. Engineering Mycorrhizal Symbioses to Alter Plant Metabolism and Improve Crop Health. Front Microbiol 2017; 8:1403. [PMID: 28785256 PMCID: PMC5519612 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2017.01403] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/06/2017] [Accepted: 07/11/2017] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Creating sustainable bioeconomies for the 21st century relies on optimizing the use of biological resources to improve agricultural productivity and create new products. Arbuscular mycorrhizae (phylum Glomeromycota) form symbiotic relationships with over 80% of vascular plants. In return for carbon, these fungi improve plant health and tolerance to environmental stress. This symbiosis is over 400 million years old and there are currently over 200 known arbuscular mycorrhizae, with dozens of new species described annually. Metagenomic sequencing of native soil communities, from species-rich meadows to mangroves, suggests biologically diverse habitats support a variety of mycorrhizal species with potential agricultural, medical, and biotechnological applications. This review looks at the effect of mycorrhizae on plant metabolism and how we can harness this symbiosis to improve crop health. I will first describe the mechanisms that underlie this symbiosis and what physiological, metabolic, and environmental factors trigger these plant-fungal relationships. These include mycorrhizal manipulation of host genetic expression, host mitochondrial and plastid proliferation, and increased production of terpenoids and jasmonic acid by the host plant. I will then discuss the effects of mycorrhizae on plant root and foliar secondary metabolism. I subsequently outline how mycorrhizae induce three key benefits in crops: defense against pathogen and herbivore attack, drought resistance, and heavy metal tolerance. I conclude with an overview of current efforts to harness mycorrhizal diversity to improve crop health through customized inoculum. I argue future research should embrace synthetic biology to create mycorrhizal chasses with improved symbiotic abilities and potentially novel functions to improve plant health. As the effects of climate change and anthropogenic disturbance increase, the global diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi should be monitored and protected to ensure this important agricultural and biotechnological resource for the future.
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Guzmán-Chávez F, Salo O, Nygård Y, Lankhorst PP, Bovenberg RAL, Driessen AJM. Mechanism and regulation of sorbicillin biosynthesis by Penicillium chrysogenum. Microb Biotechnol 2017; 10:958-968. [PMID: 28618182 PMCID: PMC5481523 DOI: 10.1111/1751-7915.12736] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2017] [Revised: 04/25/2017] [Accepted: 04/28/2017] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Penicillium chrysogenum is a filamentous fungus that is used to produce β-lactams at an industrial scale. At an early stage of classical strain improvement, the ability to produce the yellow-coloured sorbicillinoids was lost through mutation. Sorbicillinoids are highly bioactive of great pharmaceutical interest. By repair of a critical mutation in one of the two polyketide synthases in an industrial P. chrysogenum strain, sorbicillinoid production was restored at high levels. Using this strain, the sorbicillin biosynthesis pathway was elucidated through gene deletion, overexpression and metabolite profiling. The polyketide synthase enzymes SorA and SorB are required to generate the key intermediates sorbicillin and dihydrosorbicillin, which are subsequently converted to (dihydro)sorbillinol by the FAD-dependent monooxygenase SorC and into the final product oxosorbicillinol by the oxidoreductase SorD. Deletion of either of the two pks genes not only impacted the overall production but also strongly reduce the expression of the pathway genes. Expression is regulated through the interplay of two transcriptional regulators: SorR1 and SorR2. SorR1 acts as a transcriptional activator, while SorR2 controls the expression of sorR1. Furthermore, the sorbicillinoid pathway is regulated through a novel autoinduction mechanism where sorbicillinoids activate transcription.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fernando Guzmán-Chávez
- Molecular Microbiology, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Oleksandr Salo
- Molecular Microbiology, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Yvonne Nygård
- Molecular Microbiology, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Peter P Lankhorst
- Synthetic Biology and Cell Engineering, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Roel A L Bovenberg
- Synthetic Biology and Cell Engineering, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands
- DSM Biotechnology Center, Alexander Fleminglaan 1, 2613 AX Delft, The Netherlands
| | - Arnold J M Driessen
- Molecular Microbiology, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands
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31
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Sonderegger C, Galgóczy L, Garrigues S, Fizil Á, Borics A, Manzanares P, Hegedüs N, Huber A, Marcos JF, Batta G, Marx F. A Penicillium chrysogenum-based expression system for the production of small, cysteine-rich antifungal proteins for structural and functional analyses. Microb Cell Fact 2016; 15:192. [PMID: 27835989 PMCID: PMC5106836 DOI: 10.1186/s12934-016-0586-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2016] [Accepted: 10/28/2016] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Small, cysteine-rich and cationic antifungal proteins (APs) from filamentous ascomycetes, such as NFAP from Neosartorya fischeri and PAF from Penicillium chrysogenum, are promising candidates for novel drug development. A prerequisite for their application is a detailed knowledge about their structure–function relation and mode of action, which would allow protein modelling to enhance their toxicity and specificity. Technologies for structure analyses, such as electronic circular dichroism (ECD) or NMR spectroscopy, require highly purified samples and in case of NMR milligrams of uniformly 15N-/13C-isotope labelled protein. To meet these requirements, we developed a P. chrysogenum-based expression system that ensures sufficient amount and optimal purity of APs for structural and functional analyses. Results The APs PAF, PAF mutants and NFAP were expressed in a P. chrysogenum ∆paf mutant strain that served as perfect microbial expression factory. This strain lacks the paf-gene coding for the endogenous antifungal PAF and is resistant towards several APs from other ascomycetes. The expression of the recombinant proteins was under the regulation of the strong paf promoter, and the presence of a paf-specific pre-pro sequence warranted the secretion of processed proteins into the supernatant. The use of defined minimal medium allowed a single-step purification of the recombinant proteins. The expression system could be extended to express PAF in the related fungus Penicillium digitatum, which does not produce detectable amounts of APs, demonstrating the versatility of the approach. The molecular masses, folded structures and antifungal activity of the recombinant proteins were analysed by ESI–MS, ECD and NMR spectroscopy and growth inhibition assays. Conclusion This study demonstrates the implementation of a paf promoter driven expression cassettes for the production of cysteine-rich, cationic, APs in different Penicillium species. The system is a perfect tool for the generation of correctly folded proteins with high quality for structure–function analyses. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12934-016-0586-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christoph Sonderegger
- Division of Molecular Biology, Biocenter, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innrain 80-82, Innsbruck, 6020, Austria
| | - László Galgóczy
- Division of Molecular Biology, Biocenter, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innrain 80-82, Innsbruck, 6020, Austria
| | - Sandra Garrigues
- Biotechnology Department, Instituto de Agroquímica y Tecnología de Alimentos (IATA), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Avenida Agustín Escardino 7, 46980, Paterna, Valencia, Spain
| | - Ádám Fizil
- Department of Organic Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Debrecen, Egyetem tér 1, 4032, Debrecen, Hungary
| | - Attila Borics
- Institute of Biochemistry, Biological Research Centre of Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Temesvári krt. 62, 6726, Szeged, Hungary
| | - Paloma Manzanares
- Biotechnology Department, Instituto de Agroquímica y Tecnología de Alimentos (IATA), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Avenida Agustín Escardino 7, 46980, Paterna, Valencia, Spain
| | - Nikoletta Hegedüs
- Division of Molecular Biology, Biocenter, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innrain 80-82, Innsbruck, 6020, Austria.,Sandoz GmbH, Biochemiestrasse 10, 6250, Kundl, Austria
| | - Anna Huber
- Division of Molecular Biology, Biocenter, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innrain 80-82, Innsbruck, 6020, Austria
| | - Jose F Marcos
- Biotechnology Department, Instituto de Agroquímica y Tecnología de Alimentos (IATA), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Avenida Agustín Escardino 7, 46980, Paterna, Valencia, Spain
| | - Gyula Batta
- Department of Organic Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Debrecen, Egyetem tér 1, 4032, Debrecen, Hungary
| | - Florentine Marx
- Division of Molecular Biology, Biocenter, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innrain 80-82, Innsbruck, 6020, Austria.
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