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Blocking utilization of major plant biomass polysaccharides leads Aspergillus niger towards utilization of minor components.

ABSTRACT: Fungi produce a wide range of enzymes that allow them to grow on diverse plant biomass. Wheat bran is a low-cost substrate with high potential for biotechnological applications. It mainly contains cellulose and (arabino)xylan, as well as starch, proteins, lipids and lignin to a lesser extent. In this study, we dissected the regulatory network governing wheat bran degradation in Aspergillus niger to assess the relative contribution of the regulators to the utilization of this plant biomass substrate. Deletion of genes encoding transcription factors involved in (hemi-)cellulose utilization (XlnR, AraR, ClrA and ClrB) individually and in combination significantly reduced production of polysaccharide-degrading enzymes, but retained substantial growth on wheat bran. Proteomic analysis suggested the ability of A. niger to grow on other carbon components, such as starch, which was confirmed by the additional deletion of the amylolytic regulator AmyR. Growth was further reduced but not impaired, indicating that other minor components provide sufficient energy for residual growth, displaying the flexibility of A. niger, and likely other fungi, in carbon utilization. Better understanding of the complexity and flexibility of fungal regulatory networks will facilitate the generation of more efficient fungal cell factories that use plant biomass as a substrate.

SUBMITTER: Kun RS

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8313289 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:BackgroundOur dependence on fossil fuel sources and concern about the environment has generated a worldwide interest in establishing new sources of fuel and energy. Thus, the use of ethanol as a fuel is advantageous because it is an inexhaustible energy source and has minimal environmental impact. Currently, Brazil is the world's second largest producer of ethanol, which is produced from sugarcane juice fermentation. However, several studies suggest that Brazil could double its production per hectare by using sugarcane bagasse and straw, known as second-generation (2G) bioethanol. Nevertheless, the use of this biomass presents a challenge because the plant cell wall structure, which is composed of complex sugars (cellulose and hemicelluloses), must be broken down into fermentable sugar, such as glucose and xylose. To achieve this goal, several types of hydrolytic enzymes are necessary, and these enzymes represent the majority of the cost associated with 2G bioethanol processing. Reducing the cost of the saccharification process can be achieved via a comprehensive understanding of the hydrolytic mechanisms and enzyme secretion of polysaccharide-hydrolyzing microorganisms. In many natural habitats, several microorganisms degrade lignocellulosic biomass through a set of enzymes that act synergistically. In this study, two fungal species, Aspergillus niger and Trichoderma reesei, were grown on sugarcane biomass with two levels of cell wall complexity, culm in natura and pretreated bagasse. The production of enzymes related to biomass degradation was monitored using secretome analyses after 6, 12 and 24 hours. Concurrently, we analyzed the sugars in the supernatant.ResultsAnalyzing the concentration of monosaccharides in the supernatant, we observed that both species are able to disassemble the polysaccharides of sugarcane cell walls since 6 hours post-inoculation. The sugars from the polysaccharides such as arabinoxylan and ?-glucan (that compose the most external part of the cell wall in sugarcane) are likely the first to be released and assimilated by both species of fungi. At all time points tested, A. niger produced more enzymes (quantitatively and qualitatively) than T. reesei. However, the most important enzymes related to biomass degradation, including cellobiohydrolases, endoglucanases, ?-glucosidases, ?-xylosidases, endoxylanases, xyloglucanases, and ?-arabinofuranosidases, were identified in both secretomes. We also noticed that the both fungi produce more enzymes when grown in culm as a single carbon source.ConclusionOur work provides a detailed qualitative and semi-quantitative secretome analysis of A. niger and T. reesei grown on sugarcane biomass. Our data indicate that a combination of enzymes from both fungi is an interesting option to increase saccharification efficiency. In other words, these two fungal species might be combined for their usage in industrial processes.

Project description:The industrially important fungus Aspergillus niger feeds naturally on decomposing plant material, for which it is equipped with a range of enzyme systems. A significant proportion of plant material are lipids that might be available either as for energy storage or as membrane building blocks. With 63 potential lipase-encoding genes in its genome, A. niger has the tools to degrade these extracellular lipids. In contrast to polysaccharide-degrading enzyme networks not much is known about the signalling and regulatory processes that control lipase expression and activity in fungi both under laboratory and natural occurring conditions. A pulse of 1 mM of various oils was applied to four bioreactor-grown A. niger cultures to examine (i) whether A. niger responds at the level of gene transcription, (ii) at what time point this effect is detected most accurately, and (iii) whether differences between the response towards oils are observed. The triglyceride olive oil induces genes encoding peroxins and enzymes of fatty acid metabolism. A complex oil mixture extracted from wheat gluten, which is enriched for digalactosyl-diglycerides, induces genes encoding peroxins as well as enzymes of fatty acid metabolism, but with different expression profile when compared to olive oil. Pure digalactosyldiglyceride, a proxy for plant membrane lipids, does not trigger a transcriptional response. Keywords: time course; induction experiment In one week, 4 fermentor cultures were run in 2.2-liter batch fermentors in which A. niger was grown on 100 mM sorbitol. At 14 hours after oxygen supply had switched from headspace to sparger-inlet each fermentor was induced with 22 mL medium which contained 100 mM (final concentration in fermentor: 1 mM) of either olive oil, a complex oil mixture extracted from wheat gluten, pure wheat digalactosyldiglycerides, or was induced with a solution of minimal medium containing only 0.2% (in fermentor, final concentration 0.002%) triton X-100 which served as emulsifier agent. For each fermentor vessel, a sample of 10 mL was taken prior to induction (T=0), or 30 minutes, 1 hour, or 2 hours after induction. Every sample was hybridized onto a single microarray, yielding in total 16 DNA microarrays.

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Blocking utilization of major plant biomass polysaccharides leads Aspergillus niger towards utilization of minor components.

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