Cell wall glucans of fungi. A review

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Glucans are the most abundant compounds in the fungal cell walls.

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The most common type of glucose bonding is 1 → 3, both alpha and beta.

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Microfibrillar glucans with chitin provide rigidity to the fungal wall.

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Fungal beta glucans act as PAMPS during infection of animals and plants.

Glucans are the most abundant polysaccharides in the cell walls of fungi, and their structures are highly variable. Accordingly, their glucose moieties may be joined through either or both alpha (α) or beta (β) linkages, they are either lineal or branched, and amorphous or microfibrillar. Alpha 1,3 glucans sensu strictu (pseudonigerans) are the most abundant alpha glucans present in the cell walls of fungi, being restricted to dikarya. They exist in the form of structural microfibrils that provide resistance to the cell wall. The structure of beta glucans is more complex. They are linear or branched, and contain mostly β 1,3 and β 1,6 linkages, existing in the form of microfibrils. Together with chitin they constitute the most important structural components of fungal cell walls. They are the most abundant components of the cell walls in members of all fungal phyla, with the exception of Microsporidia, where they are absent.

Taking into consideration the importance of glucans in the structure and physiology of the fungi, in the present review we describe the following aspects of these polysaccharides: i) types and distribution of fungal glucans, ii) their structure, iii) their roles, iv) the mechanism of synthesis of the most important ones, and v) the phylogentic relationships of the enzymes involved in their synthesis.

Discovering the role of the apolipoprotein gene and the genes in the putative pullulan biosynthesis pathway on the synthesis of pullulan, heavy oil and melanin in Aureobasidium pullulans

Pullulan produced by Aureobasidium pullulans presents various applications in food manufacturing and pharmaceutical industry. However, the pullulan biosynthesis mechanism remains unclear. This work proposed a pathway suggesting that heavy oil and melanin may correlate with pullulan production. The effects of overexpression or deletion of genes encoding apolipoprotein, UDPG-pyrophosphorylase, glucosyltransferase, and α-phosphoglucose mutase on the production of pullulan, heavy oil, and melanin were examined. Pullulan production increased by 16.93 and 8.52% with the overexpression of UDPG-pyrophosphorylase and apolipoprotein genes, respectively. Nevertheless, the overexpression or deletion of other genes exerted little effect on pullulan biosynthesis. Heavy oil production increased by 146.30, 64.81, and 33.33% with the overexpression of UDPG-pyrophosphorylase, α-phosphoglucose mutase, and apolipoprotein genes, respectively. Furthermore, the syntheses of pullulan, heavy oil, and melanin can compete with one another. This work may provide new guidance to improve the production of pullulan, heavy oil, and melanin through genetic approach.

Development of a one-step gene knock-out and knock-in method for metabolic engineering of Aureobasidium pullulans

Aureobasidium pullulans is an increasingly attractive host for bio-production of pullulan, heavy oil, polymalic acid, and a large spectrum of extracellular enzymes. To date, genetic manipulation of A. pullulans mainly relies on time-consuming conventional restriction enzyme digestion and ligation methods. In this study, we present a one-step homologous recombination-based method for rapid genetic manipulation in A. pullulans. Overlaps measuring >40bp length and 10μg DNA segments for homologous recombination provided maximum benefits to transformation of A. pullulans. This optimized method was successfully applied to PKSIII gene (encodes polyketide synthase) knock-out and gltP gene (encodes glycolipid transfer protein) knock-in. After disruption of PKSIII gene, secretion of melanin decreased slightly. The melanin purified from disruptant showed lower reducing capacity compared with that of the parent strain, leading to a decrease in exopolysaccharide production. Knock-in of gltP gene resulted in at least 4.68-fold increase in heavy oil production depending on the carbon source used, indicating that gltP can regulate heavy oil synthesis in A. pullulans.

Comparative proteomic analysis of Aureobasidium pullulans in the presence of high and low levels of nitrogen source

Pullulan, produced by Aureobasidium pullulans strain, has been broadly used in the food and medical industries. However, relatively little is known concerning the molecular basis of pullulan biosynthesis of this strain. In this paper, the effect of different concentrations of (NH4)2SO4 on pullulan fermentation was studied. Proteomics containing two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight/time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF/TOF MS) were used to analyze the protein with different expressions of A. pullulans cells between the nitrogen limitation and nitrogen repletion. Maximum pullulan production reached 37.72 g/L when 0.6 g/L of initial (NH4)2SO4 was added. Excess nitrogen source would impel carbon flux flow toward biomass production, but decreased the pullulan production. Nitrogen limitation in A. pullulans seemed to influence the flux change of carbon flux flow toward exopolysaccharide accumulation. The findings indicated that 12 identified protein spots were involved in energy-generating enzymes, antioxidant-related enzymes, amino acid biosynthesis, glycogen biosynthesis, glycolysis, protein transport, and transcriptional regulation. These results presented more evidence of pullulan biosynthesis under nitrogen-limited environment, which would provide a molecular understanding of the physiological response of A. pullulans for optimizing the performance of industrial pullulan fermentation.

Effects of nutrients, pH and water potential on exopolysaccharides production by a fungal strain belonging to Ganoderma lucidum complex

Exopolysaccharide (EPS) production by Ganoderma lucidum in response to different culture conditions was studied. Cellulose and glucose, in defined media, resulted in the more efficient enhancers of EPS production among the carbon sources tested. In natural media cultures containing glucose and malt extract exhibited a marked increase (up to 29-fold) respect to defined media. Subsequently, high malt extract and glucose concentrations were tested. G. lucidum produced two fractions of EPS, water-soluble and water-insoluble under these culture conditions. The maximum value (15 g L(-1)) was reached at 21 days in the medium containing 60 g L(-1) malt extract and 40 g L(-1) glucose. The incomplete utilization of reducing sugars by the fungus in these media suggested that not only did high malt extract and glucose concentrations play a role in EPS production but also the water activity might be involved. A factorial uniform experimental design to test the effect of malt extract, polyethylene glycol (PEG, as water activity depressor), and initial pH on specific EPS production was applied. G. lucidum showed to be a more efficient specific EPS (mg EPS per g mycelium) producer at pH 3.5 in cultures containing the highest PEG and malt extract concentrations.

Which morphological forms of the fungus Aureobasidium pullulans are responsible for pullulan production?

Attempts were made to clarify the precise location and possible site of production of the alpha-glucan pullulan in different morphological forms of the fungus Aureobasidium pullulans. Gold-conjugated pullulanase was used as the specific probe for this purpose. No cell wall pullulan-like material was detected by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) in any morphological form of this fungus, although intracellular electron transparent material bound this probe. When silver enhancement of this gold-conjugated pullulanase probe was used, the data strongly suggested that only swollen cells and chlamydospores, and neither hyphae nor unicellular blastospores, often held responsible for pullulan formation, appeared to produce pullulan-like material.

Current knowledge on biosynthesis, biological activity, and chemical modification of the exopolysaccharide, pullulan

The article presents an overview of the latest advances in investigations of the biosynthesis, molecular properties, and associated biological activity of pullulan. The literature survey on the pullulan biosynthesis is intended to illustrate how the great variety of environmental conditions as well as variability in strain characteristics influences the metabolic pathways of the pullulan formation and effects structural composition of the biopolymer. Molecular properties of pullulan as alpha-(1-->4)- and alpha-(1-->6)-glucan are discussed in terms of similarities with amylose and dextran structures, and an emphasis is made on the inherent biological activity of pullulan molecules. The author also attempts to summarize the concepts, options, and strategies in chemical modification of the biopolymer and to delineate future prospects in designing new biologically active derivatives.