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At least 235 records · Page 13
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2021

CreA-mediated repression of gene expression occurs at low monosaccharide levels during fungal plant biomass conversion in a time and substrate dependent manner

Carbon catabolite repression enables fungi to utilize the most favourable carbon source in the environment, and is mediated by a key regulator, CreA, in most fungi. CreA-mediated regulation has mainly been studied at high monosaccharide concentrations, an uncommon situation in most natural biotopes. In nature, many fungi rely on plant biomass as their major carbon source by producing enzymes to degrade plant cell wall polysaccharides into metabolizable sugars. To determine the role of CreA when fungi grow in more natural conditions and in particular with respect to degradation and conversion of plant cell walls, we compared transcriptomes of a creA deletion and reference strain of the ascomycete Aspergillus niger during growth on sugar beet pulp and wheat bran. Transcriptomics, extracellular sugar concentrations and growth profiling of A. niger on a variety of carbon sources, revealed that also under conditions with low concentrations of free monosaccharides, CreA has a major effect on gene expression in a strong time and substrate composition dependent manner. In addition, we compared the CreA regulon from five fungi during their growth on crude plant biomass or cellulose. It showed that CreA commonly regulated genes related to carbon metabolism, sugar transport and plant cell wall degrading enzymes across different species. We therefore conclude that CreA has a crucial role for fungi also in adapting to low sugar concentrations as occurring in their natural biotopes, which is supported by the presence of CreA orthologs in nearly all fungi.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Co-occurrence networks reveal more complexity than community composition in resistance and resilience of microbial communities

Plant response to drought stress involves fungi and bacteria that live on and in plants and in the rhizosphere, yet the stability of these myco- and micro-biomes remains poorly understood. We investigate the resistance and resilience of fungi and bacteria to drought in an agricultural system using both community composition and microbial associations. Here we show that tests of the fundamental hypotheses that fungi, as compared to bacteria, are (i) more resistant to drought stress but (ii) less resilient when rewetting relieves the stress, found robust support at the level of community composition. Results were more complex using all-correlations and co-occurrence networks. In general, drought disrupts microbial networks based on significant positive correlations among bacteria, among fungi, and between bacteria and fungi. Surprisingly, co-occurrence networks among functional guilds of rhizosphere fungi and leaf bacteria were strengthened by drought, and the same was seen for networks involving arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in the rhizosphere. We also found support for the stress gradient hypothesis because drought increased the relative frequency of positive correlations.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Evaluating changes in growth and pigmentation of Cladosporium cladosporioides and Paecilomyces variotii in response to gamma and ultraviolet irradiation

Abstract Melanin-containing fungi (black molds) have the capacity to thrive under extreme environmental conditions such as the elevated radiation levels inside the former Chernobyl reactors. These fungi have been hypothesized to grow toward and use gamma radiation as an energy source, but the literature does not clearly address which energies of the electromagnetic spectrum, if any, positively affect fungal growth. The goal of this work was to characterize the response of non-melanized and melanized fungi to two distinct electromagnetic wavelengths, i.e., ultraviolet (UV) and gamma ray, keeping absorption and other potentially confounding variables constant. Exposure to UV or gamma radiation induced significant changes in fungi pigmentation, but not growth rate of Cladosporium cladosporioides and Paecilomyces variotii . Specifically, increased pigmentation of both fungi was observed in samples exposed to UV, while decreased pigmentation was observed for gamma-irradiated samples. These results provide new insights into the role of electromagnetic energies on growth of fungi and provide an impetus to examine additional energies and types of radiation to develop a fundamental understanding of this phenomenon.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Phenotypic plasticity of fungal traits in response to moisture and temperature

Phenotypic plasticity of traits is commonly measured in plants to improve understanding of organismal and ecosystem responses to climate change but is far less studied for microbes. Specifically, decomposer fungi are thought to display high levels of phenotypic plasticity and their functions have important implications for ecosystem dynamics. Assessing the phenotypic plasticity of fungal traits may therefore be important for predicting fungal community response to climate change. Here, we assess the phenotypic plasticity of 15 fungal isolates (12 species) from a Southern California grassland. Fungi were incubated on litter at five moisture levels (ranging from 4–50% water holding capacity) and at five temperatures (ranging from 4–36 °C). After incubation, fungal biomass and activities of four extracellular enzymes (cellobiohydrolase (CBH), β -glucosidase (BG), β -xylosidase (BX), and N-acetyl- β - D -glucosaminidase (NAG)) were measured. We used response surface methodology to determine how fungal phenotypic plasticity differs across the moisture-temperature gradient. We hypothesized that fungal biomass and extracellular enzyme activities would vary with moisture and temperature and that the shape of the response surface would vary between fungal isolates. We further hypothesized that more closely related fungi would show more similar response surfaces across the moisture-temperature gradient. In support of our hypotheses, we found that plasticity differed between fungi along the temperature gradient for fungal biomass and for all the extracellular enzyme activities. Plasticity also differed between fungi along the moisture gradient for BG activity. These differences appear to be caused by variation mainly at the moisture and temperature extremes. We also found that more closely related fungi had more similar extracellular enzymes activities at the highest temperature. Altogether, this evidence suggests that with global warming, fungal biodiversity may become increasingly important as functional traits tend to diverge along phylogenetic lines at higher temperatures.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

The air mycobiome is decoupled from the soil mycobiome in the California San Joaquin Valley

Abstract Dispersal is a key force in the assembly of fungal communities and the air is the dominant route of dispersal for most fungi. Understanding the dynamics of airborne fungi is important for determining their source and for helping to prevent fungal disease. This understanding is important in the San Joaquin Valley of California, which is home to 4.2 million people and where the airborne fungus Coccidioides is responsible for the most important fungal disease of otherwise healthy humans, coccidioidomycosis. The San Joaquin Valley is the most productive agricultural region in the United States, with the principal crops grown therein susceptible to fungal pathogens. Here, we characterize the fungal community in soil and air on undeveloped and agricultural land in the San Joaquin Valley using metabarcoding of the internal transcribed spacer 2 variable region of fungal rDNA. Using 1,002 individual samples, we report one of the most extensive studies of fungi sampled simultaneously from air and soil using modern sequencing techniques. We find that the air mycobiome in the San Joaquin Valley is distinct from the soil mycobiome, and that the assemblages of airborne fungi from sites as far apart as 160 km are far more similar to one another than to the fungal communities in nearby soils. Additionally, we present evidence that airborne fungi in the San Joaquin Valley are subject to dispersal limitation and cyclical intra‐annual patterns of community composition. Our findings are broadly applicable to understanding the dispersal of airborne fungi and the taxonomic structure of airborne fungal assemblages.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Metatranscriptomics sheds light on the links between the functional traits of fungal guilds and ecological processes in forest soil ecosystems

Soil fungi belonging to different functional guilds, such as saprotrophs, pathogens, and mycorrhizal symbionts, play key roles in forest ecosystems. To date, no study has compared the actual gene expression of these guilds in different forest soils. We used metatranscriptomics to study the competition for organic resources by these fungal groups in boreal, temperate, and Mediterranean forest soils. Using a dedicated mRNA annotation pipeline combined with the JGI MycoCosm database, we compared the transcripts of these three fungal guilds, targeting enzymes involved in C- and N mobilization from plant and microbial cell walls. Genes encoding enzymes involved in the degradation of plant cell walls were expressed at a higher level in saprotrophic fungi than in ectomycorrhizal and pathogenic fungi. However, ectomycorrhizal and saprotrophic fungi showed similarly high expression levels of genes encoding enzymes involved in fungal cell wall degradation. Transcripts for N-related transporters were more highly expressed in ectomycorrhizal fungi than in other groups. Here, we showed that ectomycorrhizal and saprotrophic fungi compete for N in soil organic matter, suggesting that their interactions could decelerate C cycling. Metatranscriptomics provides a unique tool to test controversial ecological hypotheses and to better understand the underlying ecological processes involved in soil functioning and carbon stabilization.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Tracking fungal species-level responses in soil environments exposed to long-term warming and associated drying

Climate change is affecting fungal communities and their function in terrestrial ecosystems. Despite making progress in the understanding of how the fungal community responds to global change drivers in natural ecosystems, little is known on how fungi respond at the species level. Understanding how fungal species respond to global change drivers, such as warming, is critical, as it could reveal adaptation pathways to help us to better understand ecosystem functioning in response to global change. Here, we present a model study to track species-level responses of fungi to warming—and associated drying—in a decade-long global change field experiment; we focused on two free-living saprotrophic fungi which were found in high abundance in our site, Mortierella and Penicillium. Using microbiological isolation techniques, combined with whole genome sequencing of fungal isolates, and community level metatranscriptomics, we investigated transcription-level differences of functional categories and specific genes involved in catabolic processes, cell homeostasis, cell morphogenesis, DNA regulation and organization, and protein biosynthesis. We found that transcription-level responses were mostly species-specific but that under warming, both fungi consistently invested in the transcription of critical genes involved in catabolic processes, cell morphogenesis, and protein biosynthesis, likely allowing them to withstand a decade of chronic stress. Overall, our work supports the idea that fungi that invest in maintaining their catabolic rates and processes while growing and protecting their cells may survive under global climate change.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

Shed Light in the DaRk LineagES of the Fungal Tree of Life—STRES

The polyphyletic group of black fungi within the Ascomycota (Arthoniomycetes, Dothideomycetes, and Eurotiomycetes) is ubiquitous in natural and anthropogenic habitats. Partly because of their dark, melanin-based pigmentation, black fungi are resistant to stresses including UV- and ionizing-radiation, heat and desiccation, toxic metals, and organic pollutants. Consequently, they are amongst the most stunning extremophiles and poly-extreme-tolerant organisms on Earth. Even though ca. 60 black fungal genomes have been sequenced to date, [mostly in the family Herpotrichiellaceae (Eurotiomycetes)], the class Dothideomycetes that hosts the largest majority of extremophiles has only been sparsely sampled. By sequencing up to 92 species that will become reference genomes, the “Shed light in The daRk lineagES of the fungal tree of life” (STRES) project will cover a broad collection of black fungal diversity spread throughout the Fungal Tree of Life. Interestingly, the STRES project will focus on mostly unsampled genera that display different ecologies and life-styles (e.g., ant- and lichen-associated fungi, rock-inhabiting fungi, etc.). With a resequencing strategy of 10- to 15-fold depth coverage of up to ~550 strains, numerous new reference genomes will be established. To identify metabolites and functional processes, these new genomic resources will be enriched with metabolomics analyses coupled with transcriptomics experiments on selected species under various stress conditions (salinity, dryness, UV radiation, oligotrophy). The data acquired will serve as a reference and foundation for establishing an encyclopedic database for fungal metagenomics as well as the biology, evolution, and ecology of the fungi in extreme environments.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Editorial: Forest Rhizosphere Interactions: Cascading Consequences for Ecosystem-Level Carbon and Nutrient Cycling

Mycorrhizal fungimine organicmatter and subsequently transfer plant-available nutrients to roots. While there is disagreement considering the role of mycorrhizal fungi in ecosystem carbon (C) and nutrient cycling relative to factors such as climate (Cotton, 2018; Bennett and Classen, 2020), soil nutrient availability (Brzostek et al., 2015; Frey, 2019), or host plant community composition (Read and Perez-Moreno, 2003), it is now clear that mycorrhizal fungal symbionts control a substantial proportion of C and nutrient flow belowground (Steidinger et al., 2019). Yet, determining the relative importance of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) and ectomycorrhizal (EM) fungi to these processes is still an open field of inquiry in ecosystemecology (Averill et al., 2019a) and earth system modeling (Sulman et al., 2019). At large scales, ecosystems dominated by EM fungi are thought to store more soil C per unit nitrogen (N) (Averill et al., 2014), have slower N cycles (Phillips et al., 2013), and respond more strongly to global change drivers such as N-deposition (Jo et al., 2019). However, it is unclear how generalizable these patterns are across sites, and plant and mycorrhizal taxa. If site or species-dependent relationships exist between mycorrhizal plants, fungi, and soil biogeochemical cycles, forecasting hot spots and hot moments of mycorrhizal fungal activities and their consistency across space and time would be evenmore challenging (Averill et al., 2019b; Kivlin and Hawkes, 2020).

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

X-ray fluorescence and XANES spectroscopy revealed diverse potassium chemistries and colocalization with phosphorus in the ectomycorrhizal fungus Paxillus ammoniavirescens

Ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi play a major role in forest ecosystems and managed tree plantations. Particularly, they facilitate mineral weathering and nutrient transfer towards colonized roots. Among nutrients provided by these fungi, potassium (K) has been understudied compared to phosphorus (P) or nitrogen (N). The ECM fungus Paxillus ammoniavirescens is a generalist species that interacts with the root of many trees and can directly transfer K to them, including loblolly pine. However, the forms of K that ECM fungi can store is still unknown. Here, we used synchrotron potassium X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and K-edge X-ray Absorption Near Edge Structure (XANES) spectroscopy on P. ammoniavirescens growing in axenic conditions to investigate the K chemistries accumulating in the center and the edge of the mycelium. We observed that various K forms accumulated in different part of the mycelium, including K-nitrate (KNO 3 ), K-C-O compounds (such as K-tartrate K 2 (C 4 H 4 O 6 ) and K-oxalate (K 2 C 2 O 4 )), K-S and K-P compounds. Saprotrophic fungi have been shown to excrete carboxylic acids, which in turn play a role in soil mineral weathering. Our finding of several K counter-ions to carboxylic acids may suggest that, besides their direct transfer to colonized roots, K ions can also be involved in the production of compounds necessary for sourcing nutrients from their surrounding environment by ECM fungi. Additionally, this work reveals that XANES spectroscopy can be used to identify the various forms of K accumulating in biological systems.

Ectomycorrhizal symbiosis↗
DOE OSTI2025

Modeling Mycorrhizal Carbon Costs in Temperate Forests: The Impacts of Functional Diversity and Global Change Factors

Mycorrhizal fungi form symbiotic relationships with most plant species, facilitating nutrient acquisition while consuming a significant fraction of the plant's photosynthetic carbon (C), which we define as the mycorrhizal C cost. Drivers of the mycorrhizal C cost, which is crucial for predicting environmental impacts on plant productivity, remain under-explored and difficult to quantify. Ecosystem models that incorporate mycorrhizae can offer insights into mycorrhizal C cost dynamics, but their predictions have rarely been validated against empirical data. Here, in this study, we used the Myco-CORPSE model, which explicitly simulates mycorrhizal processes alongside soil carbon and nitrogen cycling, to investigate the drivers of mycorrhizal C cost in temperate forests. Applying this model to over 1,800 forest inventory plots across the eastern United States, we found that the simulations matched published data, showing higher C allocation to ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi (16.0% of net primary production (NPP)) compared to arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi (5.8% of NPP). Further analysis showed that mixed forests, co-dominated by both AM and ECM trees, allocated less C to mycorrhizal fungi compared to forests dominated by either AM or ECM fungi alone, due to complementary nutrient acquisition strategies. Elevated Nitrogen (N) deposition and higher temperatures reduce mycorrhizal C costs, favoring AM strategies. Conversely, elevated CO 2 (eCO 2 ) increased plant N demand and mycorrhizal C costs, favoring ECM strategies that access organic N sources. These findings underscore the critical role of mycorrhizal functional diversity in plant nutrient acquisition and C dynamics, providing new insights into how mycorrhizal symbioses respond to global change.

Shao, Siya [Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH (United↗
DOE OSTI2020

Lipo-chitooligosaccharides as regulatory signals of fungal growth and development

Lipo-chitooligosaccharides (LCOs) are signaling molecules produced by rhizobial bacteria that trigger the nodulation process in legumes, and by some fungi that also establish symbiotic relationships with plants, notably the arbuscular and ecto mycorrhizal fungi. Here, we show that many other fungi also produce LCOs. We tested 59 species representing most fungal phyla, and found that 53 species produce LCOs that can be detected by functional assays and/or by mass spectroscopy. LCO treatment affects spore germination, branching of hyphae, pseudohyphal growth, and transcription in non-symbiotic fungi from the Ascomycete and Basidiomycete phyla. Our findings suggest that LCO production is common among fungi, and LCOs may function as signals regulating fungal growth and development.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Genomic and functional analyses of fungal and bacterial consortia that enable lignocellulose breakdown in goat gut microbiomes

Abstract The herbivore digestive tract is home to a complex community of anaerobic microbes that work together to break down lignocellulose. These microbiota are an untapped resource of strains, pathways and enzymes that could be applied to convert plant waste into sugar substrates for green biotechnology. We carried out more than 400 parallel enrichment experiments from goat faeces to determine how substrate and antibiotic selection influence membership, activity, stability and chemical productivity of herbivore gut communities. We assembled 719 high-quality metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) that are unique at the species level. More than 90% of these MAGs are from previously unidentified herbivore gut microorganisms. Microbial consortia dominated by anaerobic fungi outperformed bacterially dominated consortia in terms of both methane production and extent of cellulose degradation, which indicates that fungi have an important role in methane release. Metabolic pathway reconstructions from MAGs of 737 bacteria, archaea and fungi suggest that cross-domain partnerships between fungi and methanogens enabled production of acetate, formate and methane, whereas bacterially dominated consortia mainly produced short-chain fatty acids, including propionate and butyrate. Analyses of carbohydrate-active enzyme domains present in each anaerobic consortium suggest that anaerobic bacteria and fungi employ mostly complementary hydrolytic strategies. The division of labour among herbivore anaerobes to degrade plant biomass could be harnessed for industrial bioprocessing.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Fungal elemental profiling unleashed through rapid laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS)

ABSTRACT Elemental profiling of fungal species as a phenotyping tool is an understudied topic and is typically performed to examine plant tissue or non-biological materials. Traditional analytical techniques such as inductively coupled plasma–optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) and inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) have been used to identify elemental profiles of fungi; however, these techniques can be cumbersome due to the difficulty of preparing samples. Additionally, the instruments used for these techniques can be expensive to procure and operate. Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) is an alternative elemental analytical technique—one that is sensitive across the periodic table, easy to use on various sample types, and is cost-effective in both procurement and operation. LIBS has not been used on axenic filamentous fungal isolates grown in substrate media. In this work, as a proof of concept, we used LIBS on two genetically distinct fungal species grown on a nutrient-rich and nutrient-poor substrate media to determine whether robust elemental profiles can be detected and whether differences between the fungal isolates can be identified. Our results demonstrate a distinct correlation between fungal species and their elemental profile, regardless of the substrate media, as the same strains shared a similar uptake of carbon, zinc, phosphorus, manganese, and magnesium, which could play a vital role in their survival and propagation. Independently, each fungal species exhibited a unique elemental profile. This work demonstrates a unique and valuable approach to rapidly phenotype fungi through optical spectroscopy, and this approach can be critical in understanding these fungi's behavior and interactions with the environment. IMPORTANCE Historically, ionomics, the elemental profiling of an organism or materials, has been used to understand the elemental composition in waste materials to identify and recycle heavy metals or rare earth elements, identify the soil composition in space exploration on the moon or Mars, or understand human disorders or disease. To our knowledge, ionomic profiling of microbes, particularly fungi, has not been investigated to answer applied and fundamental biological questions. The reason is that current ionomic analytical techniques can be laborious in sample preparation, fail to measure all potential elements accurately, are cost-prohibitive, or provide inconsistent results across replications. In our previous efforts, we explored whether laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) could be used in determining the elemental profiles of poplar tissue, which was successful. In this proof-of-concept endeavor, we undertook a transdisciplinary effort between applied and fundamental mycology and elemental analytical techniques to address the biological question of how LIBS can used for fungi grown axenically in a nutrient-rich and nutrient-poor environment.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

Identification and Classification of Fungal GPCR Gene Families

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are transmembrane proteins crucial for signal transduction in eukaryotes, responding to diverse extracellular signals. Researchers have found and systematically summarized 14 distinct types of GPCRs in fungi but their distribution among numerous fungal species remained largely unexamined. Additionally, three families of mammalian homologs (Rhodopsin, Glutamate, and Frizzled) have been found in previous studies, but they are not included in the systematic classification of fungal GPCRs. Our study establishes a unified classification of 17 GPCR classes in fungi, combining 14 fungal and 3 mammalian previously recognized groups, and classifies 28,294 GPCRs across 1357 fungal species, significantly expanding the scale of GPCRs in fungi and demonstrating their broader distribution. We found that mammalian homologs are notably more prevalent in Early Diverging Fungi (EDF), whereas the previous 14 classes are predominantly found in Ascomycota and Basidiomycota. The most abundant class detected in fungi was Pth11-like GPCRs, exclusively found in Pezizomycotina and involved in fungal pathogenicity. Our analysis suggested that Pezizomycotina ancestor possessed an extensive array of Pth11-like GPCRs, but over time, some species underwent considerable reductions in these GPCRs in conjunction with genome contractions. Utilizing a custom-built convolutional neural network (CNN) for the identification of fungal GPCRs, we identified several putative novel fungal GPCRs. Predicted interactions between these prospective new GPCRs and G-alpha proteins, as simulated by AlphaFold Multimer, provided additional support for their functional relevance. In conclusion, our work defines the first large-scale, unified classification of fungal GPCRs, reveals lineage-specific expansions and contractions, and uncovers previously unrecognized GPCR candidates with potential functional roles in fungal signaling.

G protein-coupled receptors↗
DOE OSTI2023

Sequencing the Genomes of the First Terrestrial Fungal Lineages: What Have We Learned?

The first genome sequenced of a eukaryotic organism was for Saccharomyces cerevisiae, as reported in 1996, but it was more than 10 years before any of the zygomycete fungi, which are the early-diverging terrestrial fungi currently placed in the phyla Mucoromycota and Zoopagomycota, were sequenced. The genome for Rhizopus delemar was completed in 2008; currently, more than 1000 zygomycete genomes have been sequenced. Genomic data from these early-diverging terrestrial fungi revealed deep phylogenetic separation of the two major clades—primarily plant—associated saprotrophic and mycorrhizal Mucoromycota versus the primarily mycoparasitic or animal-associated parasites and commensals in the Zoopagomycota. Genomic studies provide many valuable insights into how these fungi evolved in response to the challenges of living on land, including adaptations to sensing light and gravity, development of hyphal growth, and co-existence with the first terrestrial plants. Genome sequence data have facilitated studies of genome architecture, including a history of genome duplications and horizontal gene transfer events, distribution and organization of mating type loci, rDNA genes and transposable elements, methylation processes, and genes useful for various industrial applications. Pathogenicity genes and specialized secondary metabolites have also been detected in soil saprobes and pathogenic fungi. Novel endosymbiotic bacteria and viruses have been discovered during several zygomycete genome projects. Overall, genomic information has helped to resolve a plethora of research questions, from the placement of zygomycetes on the evolutionary tree of life and in natural ecosystems, to the applied biotechnological and medical questions.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

Lipid biosynthesis and abiotic stress resilience in photosynthetic organisms

This application describes consortium between fungi and algae, where the algae are incorporated within hyphae of the fungi. The fungi, the algae, or both can be modified to express heterologous lipid synthesizing enzymes. Incorporation of algae into fungi facilitates harvesting of the algae and products produced by the consortia. Such consortia are robust. For example, the fungi and algae can symbiotically provide nutrients to each other and are tolerant of environmental stresses.

Bonito, Gregory↗
DOE OSTI2021

Production of organic acids from Aspergillus cis-aconitic acid decarboxylase (cadA) deletion strains

This application provides recombinant Aspergillus fungi having an endogenous cis-aconitic acid decarboxylase (cadA) gene genetically inactivated, which allows aconitic acid production by the recombinant fungi. Such recombinant fungi can further include an exogenous nucleic acid molecule encoding aspartate decarboxylase (panD), an exogenous nucleic acid molecule encoding β-alanine-pyruvate aminotransferase (BAPAT), and an exogenous nucleic acid molecule encoding 3-hydroxypropionate dehydrogenase (HPDH). Kits including these fungi, and methods of using these fungi to produce aconitic acid and 3-hydroxypropionic acid (3-HP) are also provided.

Deng, Shuang↗