Project description:Ustilago maydis, the causal agent of corn smut disease, is a dimorphic fungus alternating between a saprobic haploid budding form, and an obligate pathogenic filamentous dikaryon. Maize responds to U. maydis colonization by producing highly modified tumorous structures and it is only within these plant galls that the fungus sporulates giving rise to melanized sexual spores, the teliospores. Previously we identified a regulatory protein from the APSES family of transcription factors, which we named Ust1, whose absence in yeast cells led to filamentous growth and the production of highly pigmented spore-like structures in culture. In this study, we analyzed the transcriptome of a ∆ust1 deletion mutant.
Project description:Industrial production of penicillins with the filamentous fungus Penicillium chrysogenum is based on an unprecedented effort in microbial strain improvement. Sequencing of the 32.19 Mb genome of P. chrysogenum Wisconsin54-1255 revealed many genes responsible for key steps in penicillin production. DNA microarrays were used to compare the transcriptomes of the sequenced strain and a penicillinG high-producing strain, grown in the presence and absence of the side-chain precursor phenylacetic acid. Transcription of genes involved in biosynthesis of valine, cysteine and alpha-aminoadipic acid, the amino-acid precursors for penicillin biosynthesis, as well as genes encoding microbody proteins, increased in the high-producing strain. Many key (intra)cellular transport processes involving penicillins and intermediates remain to be characterized at the molecular level. Genes predicted to encode transporters were strongly overrepresented among the genes transcriptionally upregulated under conditions that stimulate penicillinG production, illustrating potential for future genomics-driven functional analysis. Keywords: genetic modification
Project description:A variety of small RNAs, including the Dicer-dependent miRNAs and the Dicer-independent Piwi-interacting RNAs, associate with Argonaute family proteins to regulate gene expression in diverse cellular processes. These two species of small RNA have not been found in fungi. Here, by analyzing small RNA associated with the Neurospora Argonaute protein QDE-2, we show that diverse pathways generate miRNA-like small RNAs (milRNAs) and Dicer-independent small interfering RNAs (disiRNAs) in this filamentous fungus. Surprisingly, milRNAs are produced by at least four different mechanisms that use a distinct combination of factors, including Dicers, QDE-2, the exonuclease QIP and an RNAse III domain-containing protein MRPL3. In contrast, disiRNAs originate from loci producing overlapping sense and antisense transcripts, and do not require the known RNAi components for their production. Taken together, these results uncover several pathways for small RNA production in filamentous fungi, shedding light on the diversity and evolutionary origins of eukaryotic small RNAs. One small RNA library was generated using QDE-2 immunoprecipitate from Neurospora crassa.
Project description:The filamentous fungus Aspergillus oryzae is an important microbial cell factory for industrial production of useful enzymes, such as α-amylase. In order to optimize the industrial enzyme production process, there is a need to understand fundamental processes underlying protein production, here under how protein production links to metabolism through global regulatory structures. In this study, two α-amylase-producing strains of A. oryzae, a wild type strain and a transformant strain containing additional copies of the α-amylase gene, were characterized at a systematic level. Based on integrated analysis of ome-data together with genome-scale metabolic network and flux calculation, we identified key genes, key enzymes, key proteins, and key metabolites involved in the processes of protein synthesis and secretion, nucleotide metabolism, and amino acid metabolism that can be the potential targets for improving industrial protein production. Keywords: Two Aspergillus oryzae strains and two different carbon sources Two carbon sources (glucose, maltose) with three biological replicates for A. oryzae strain A1560 and strain CF1.1