Deciphering regulatory mechanisms associated with hemicellulose degradation in Neurospora crassa
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT: Hemicellulose, the second most abundant plant biomass fraction after cellulose, is widely viewed as a potential feedstock for the production of liquid fuels and other value-added materials. Degradation of hemicellulose by filamentous fungi requires production of many different enzymes, which are induced by biopolymers or its derivatives and regulated mainly at the transcriptional level through transcription factors (TFs). Neurospora crassa has been shown to express and secrete plant cell wall associated enzymes. To better understand genes specifically associated with degradation of hemicellulose, we identified 353 genes by transcriptome analysis of N. crassa wild type strain grown on beechwood xylan. Exposure to xylan induces 9 of the 19 predicted hemicellulase genes. The xylanolytic phenotype of strains with deletions in genes identified from the secretome and transcriptome analysis of wild type showed that none were essential for growth on beechwood xylan. The transcription factor XlnR/Xyr1 in Aspergillus and Trichoderma species is considered to be the major transcriptional regulator of genes encoding both cellulases and hemicellulases. We identified a xlnR/xyr1 homolog in N. crassa, NCU06971, termed xlr-1 (xylanase regulator 1). Deletion of xlr-1 in N. crassa abolishes the growth on xylan and xylose, but growth on cellulose was indistinguishable from wild type. To determine regulatory mechanisms associated with hemicellulose degradation, we explored the transcriptional regulon of XLR-1 under xylose and xylanolytic versus cellulolytic conditions. XLR-1 regulated only some predicted hemicellulase genes in N. crassa and was required for a full induction of several cellulase genes. Hemicellulase gene expression was induced by a combination of release from carbon catabolite repression (CCR) and induction. However, in N. crassa, xlr-1 is subject to non-CRE-1 mediated CCR. This systematic analysis provides the similarities and differences of hemicellulose degradation and regulation mechanisms used by N. crassa in comparison to other filamentous fungi. Four-condition experiments (minimal medium, xylan medium,xylose and Avicel medium) of mutant strain(xlr-1) compared to wild type strain; Cy3 and Cy5 dye swap
ORGANISM(S): Neurospora crassa
SUBMITTER: Chaoguang Tian
PROVIDER: E-GEOD-34098 | biostudies-arrayexpress |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-arrayexpress
ACCESS DATA