Project description:We have examined and compared the transcriptome of T. reesei growing on wheat straw and lactose as carbon sources under otherwise similar conditions. Gene expression on wheat straw exceeded that on lactose, and 1619 genes were found to be only induced on wheat straw but not on lactose. They comprised 30 % of the CAZome, but were also enriched in genes associated with phospholipid metabolism, DNA synthesis and repair and iron homeostatis. Two thirds of the CAZome was expressed both on wheat straw as well as on lactose, but 60 % of it at least >2-fold higher on the former. Major wheat straw specific genes comprised xylanases, chitinases and ß-mannosidases. Interestingly, the latter two CAZyme families were significantly higher expressed in a strain in which xyr1 encoding the major regulator of cellulase and hemicellulase biosynthesis is non-functional, demonstrating that XYR1 is a repressor of these genes.
Project description:We have examined and compared the transcriptome of T. reesei growing on wheat straw and lactose as carbon sources under otherwise similar conditions. Gene expression on wheat straw exceeded that on lactose, and 1619 genes were found to be only induced on wheat straw but not on lactose. They comprised 30 % of the CAZome, but were also enriched in genes associated with phospholipid metabolism, DNA synthesis and repair and iron homeostatis. Two thirds of the CAZome was expressed both on wheat straw as well as on lactose, but 60 % of it at least >2-fold higher on the former. Major wheat straw specific genes comprised xylanases, chitinases and M-CM-^_-mannosidases. Interestingly, the latter two CAZyme families were significantly higher expressed in a strain in which xyr1 encoding the major regulator of cellulase and hemicellulase biosynthesis is non-functional, demonstrating that XYR1 is a repressor of these genes. We used two biological replicas of four T. reesei strains growing on glucose, lactose, and on wheat straw
Project description:Fungi are an important source of enzymes for saccharification of plant polysaccharides and production of biofuels. Understanding of the regulation and induction of expression of genes encoding these enzymes is still incomplete. To explore the induction mechanism, we analysed the response of the industrially important fungus Aspergillus niger to wheat straw, with a focus on events occurring shortly after exposure to the substrate. RNA sequencing showed that over a third of the genes induced after 6 h of exposure to wheat straw were also induced during 6 h of carbon starvation, indicating that carbon starvation is probably an important factor in the early response to wheat straw. The up-regulation of the expression of a high number of genes encoding CAZymes that are active on plant-derived carbohydrates during early carbon starvation suggests that these enzymes could be involved in a scouting role during starvation, releasing inducing sugars from complex plant polysaccharides. Eight samples in total consisting of duplicate shake flask Aspergillus niger cultures from four conditions: 48h glucose, 6 h starvation, 6 h wheat straw, 24 h starvation
Project description:We have studied the physiological response of the fungus Aspergillus niger when exposed to wheat straw as a model lignocellulosic substrate. Using RNA-sequencing we showed that, 24 hours after exposure to straw, gene expression of known plant cell wall degrading enzymes represents a huge investment for the cells (about 20 % of the total mRNA). Our results also uncovered new esterases and surface interacting proteins that might form part of the fungal degradative arsenal. We also show that antisense transcripts are abundant and that their expression can be regulated by conditions. Triplicate samples of A. niger N402 taken at each of three timepoints: After 48 h growth in minimal media with Glucose as sole carbon source, After transfer to Wheat Straw media for 24 h and 5 h after after the exogenous addition of glucose to the wheat starw media.
Project description:The induction of genes in response to exposure of T. reesei to wheat straw was explored using genome-wide RNA-seq and compared to published RNA-seq data and model of how A. niger senses and responds to the lignocellulose. After 24 h of exposure to straw, transcript levels of known and predicted lignocellulose-degrading enzymes increased to around 8% of total cellular mRNA in T. reesei, which was much less when compared to A. niger. The bulk of enzymes used to deconstruct wheat straw is similar in both fungi. Other, non-plant cell wall-degrading enzymes which may aid in lignocellulose degradation were also uncovered in T. reesei and similar to those described in A. niger. Antisense transcripts were also shown to be present in T. reesei and their expession can be regulated by the respective growth condition. Triplicate samples of T. reesei cultivated in each of the three following conditions were taken: 1) After 48 h growth in glucose-based minimal media; 2) After transfer of mycelia from glucose-based media into media containing wheat straw as a sole carbon source and 3) 5 h after addition of glucose to straw cultures.
Project description:Fungi are an important source of enzymes for saccharification of plant polysaccharides and production of biofuels. Understanding of the regulation and induction of expression of genes encoding these enzymes is still incomplete. To explore the induction mechanism, we analysed the response of the industrially important fungus Aspergillus niger to wheat straw, with a focus on events occurring shortly after exposure to the substrate. RNA sequencing showed that over a third of the genes induced after 6 h of exposure to wheat straw were also induced during 6 h of carbon starvation, indicating that carbon starvation is probably an important factor in the early response to wheat straw. The up-regulation of the expression of a high number of genes encoding CAZymes that are active on plant-derived carbohydrates during early carbon starvation suggests that these enzymes could be involved in a scouting role during starvation, releasing inducing sugars from complex plant polysaccharides.
Project description:Comparative transcriptional profiling of N. crassa grown on five major crop straws of China (barley, corn, rice, soybean and wheat straws) revealed a highly overlapping group of 430 genes, the Biomass commonly Induced Core Set (BICS). A large proportion of induced carbohydrate-active-enzyme (CAZy) genes (82 out of 113) were also conserved across the five plant straws. Excluding 178 genes within the BICS that were also up-regulated under no-carbon conditions, the remaining 252 genes were defined as the Biomass Regulon (BR). Interestingly, 88 genes were only induced by plant biomass and not by three individual polysaccharides (Avicel, xylan, and pectin); these were denoted as the Biomass Unique Set (BUS). Deletion of one BUS gene, the transcriptional regulator rca-1, significantly improved lignocellulase production using plant biomass as the sole carbon source, possibly functioning via de-repression of the regulator clr-2. Thus, this result suggests that rca-1 is a potential engineering target for biorefineries, especially for plant biomass direct microbial conversion processes. Conidia of Neurospora crass wild type were inoculated at 10^6 conidia/mL into 100 mL 1×Vogel’s salts with 2% (w/w) ground crop straws, barley straw, corn straw, rice straw, soybean straw and wheat straw respectively for 30 h or 2% sucrose for 16 h. Then, mycelia were harvested through filtration and immediately frozen in liquid nitrogen.Total RNA from frozen sample was isolated with TRIzol reagent (Invitrogen) and further treated with DNase I (RNeasy Mini Kit, QIAGEN). The qualified RNA was prepared with standard protocol from Shenzhen BGI (China) and sequenced on the Illumina HiSeqTM 2000 platform.
Project description:Aeolian soil erosion, exacerbated by anthropogenic perturbations, has become one of the most alarming processes of land degradation and desertification. By contrast, dust deposition might confer a potential fertilization effect. To examine how they affect topsoil microbial community, we conducted a study GeoChip techniques in a semiarid grassland of Inner Mongolia, China. We found that microbial communities were significantly (P<0.039) altered and most of microbial functional genes associated with carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium cycling were decreased or remained unaltered in relative abundance by both erosion and deposition, which might be attributed to acceleration of organic matter mineralization by the breakdown of aggregates during dust transport and deposition. As a result, there were strong correlations between microbial carbon and nitrogen cycling genes. amyA genes encoding alpha-amylases were significantly (P=0.01) increased by soil deposition, reflecting changes of carbon profiles. Consistently, plant abundance, total nitrogen and total organic carbon were correlated with functional gene composition, revealing the importance of environmental nutrients to soil microbial function potentials. Collectively, our results identified microbial indicator species and functional genes of aeolian soil transfer, and demonstrated that functional genes had higher susceptibility to environmental nutrients than taxonomy. Given the ecological importance of aeolian soil transfer, knowledge gained here are crucial for assessing microbe-mediated nutrient cyclings and human health hazard.
Project description:Aeolian soil erosion, exacerbated by anthropogenic perturbations, has become one of the most alarming processes of land degradation and desertification. By contrast, dust deposition might confer a potential fertilization effect. To examine how they affect topsoil microbial community, we conducted a study GeoChip techniques in a semiarid grassland of Inner Mongolia, China. We found that microbial communities were significantly (P<0.039) altered and most of microbial functional genes associated with carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium cycling were decreased or remained unaltered in relative abundance by both erosion and deposition, which might be attributed to acceleration of organic matter mineralization by the breakdown of aggregates during dust transport and deposition. As a result, there were strong correlations between microbial carbon and nitrogen cycling genes. amyA genes encoding alpha-amylases were significantly (P=0.01) increased by soil deposition, reflecting changes of carbon profiles. Consistently, plant abundance, total nitrogen and total organic carbon were correlated with functional gene composition, revealing the importance of environmental nutrients to soil microbial function potentials. Collectively, our results identified microbial indicator species and functional genes of aeolian soil transfer, and demonstrated that functional genes had higher susceptibility to environmental nutrients than taxonomy. Given the ecological importance of aeolian soil transfer, knowledge gained here are crucial for assessing microbe-mediated nutrient cyclings and human health hazard. The experimental sites comprised of three treatments of control, soil erosion and deposition, with 5 replicates of each treatment.