Project description:Targeting an engineered DNA fragment to a specific site in chromosomes in order to disrupt, overexpress or modify the nucleotide sequence of a gene requires homologous recombination repair mechanism. This DNA repair mechanism is not predominant in fungi, resulting in extremely low targeting efficiency. To increase this efficiency, it is becoming common practice to disable the non homologous end joining (NHEJ) pathway that causes random integration, by deleting homologous gene to human KU70 and KU80 which encode proteins functioning in the NHEJ pathway. These genes have been successfully deleted in several organisms, including the yeast Kluyveromyces lactis and the fungi Neurospora Crassa and several Aspergilli species. In this study we investigated the behavior of high penicillinG-producing Penicillium chrysogenum strains, in which the KU70 or KU80 homologues, HdfA or HdfB, had been deleted. Targeting efficiency in these mutant strains was significantly increased relative to the reference strain. Both physiological and transcriptome data of chemostat cultivations of the hdfA deletion strain and the reference strain showed minimal differences. However, in a direct competition experiment to assess global strain fitness, the reference strain had a clear advantage over the deletion strain. The full characterization of these recombinant host strains is an essential step to guide the future construction of a whole genome knock-out mutant collection.
Project description:The recent discovery of a velvet complex containing several regulators of secondary metabolism in the model fungus Aspergillus nidulans raises the question whether similar type complexes direct fungal development in genera other than Aspergillus. Penicillium chrysogenum is the industrial producer of the antibiotic penicillin, whose biosynthetic regulation is barely understood. Here we provide a functional analysis of two major homologues of the velvet complex in P. chrysogenum, that we have named PcvelA and PclaeA. Data from array analysis using a ?PcvelA deletion strain indicate a significant role of PcvelA on the expression of biosynthesis and developmental genes, including PclaeA. Northern hybridization and HPLC quantifications of penicillin titres clearly show that both PcvelA and PclaeA play a major role in penicillin biosynthesis. Both regulators are further involved in different and distinct developmental processes. While PcvelA deletion leads to light independent conidial formation, dichotomous branching of hyphae and pellet formation in shaking cultures, a ?PclaeA strain shows a severe impairment in conidiophore formation in both the light and dark. Bimolecular fluorescence complementation assays finally provide evidence for a velvet-like complex in Penicillium chrysogenum, with structurally conserved components that have distinct developmental roles, illustrating the functional plasticity of these regulators within filamentous ascomycetes. Transcriptomes of PcvelA- and PclaeA- deletion mutants were compared with expression data from recipient strain deltaPcku70 and reference strain P2niaD18 as a control
Project description:The recent discovery of a velvet complex containing several regulators of secondary metabolism in the model fungus Aspergillus nidulans raises the question whether similar type complexes direct fungal development in genera other than Aspergillus. Penicillium chrysogenum is the industrial producer of the antibiotic penicillin, whose biosynthetic regulation is barely understood. Here we provide a functional analysis of two major homologues of the velvet complex in P. chrysogenum, that we have named PcvelA and PclaeA. Data from array analysis using a ΔPcvelA deletion strain indicate a significant role of PcvelA on the expression of biosynthesis and developmental genes, including PclaeA. Northern hybridization and HPLC quantifications of penicillin titres clearly show that both PcvelA and PclaeA play a major role in penicillin biosynthesis. Both regulators are further involved in different and distinct developmental processes. While PcvelA deletion leads to light independent conidial formation, dichotomous branching of hyphae and pellet formation in shaking cultures, a ΔPclaeA strain shows a severe impairment in conidiophore formation in both the light and dark. Bimolecular fluorescence complementation assays finally provide evidence for a velvet-like complex in Penicillium chrysogenum, with structurally conserved components that have distinct developmental roles, illustrating the functional plasticity of these regulators within filamentous ascomycetes.