Monday, May 2, 2011
Grand Ballroom C-D, 2nd fl (Sheraton Seattle)
The filamentous fungus Aspergillus terreus has been successfully used for producing itaconic
acid in industry for many years. The gene, which encodes cis-aconitic acid decarboxylase (cad),
is essential for itaconic acid production in A. terreus. To investigate the regulation of CAD
enzyme function and the pathway for itaconic acid biosynthesis, analysis of A. terreus ESTs
generated from a time course of itaconic acid production was performed and led to the discovery
of a cluster of 5 genes. In addition to cad, the cluster is predicted to encode a transcription factor
(tf), mitochondrial organic acid transporter (mot), MFS type transporter (mfs) and a p450
oxidase (p450). Deletion strains for each gene were constructed and itaconic acid production
was analyzed. In the deleted tf strain, the itaconic acid production was dramatically decreased
compared to wild type. In the Dtf strain, expression level of each gene was analyzed by RT-PCR.
In Dmot, Dcad, itaconic acid is almost not detected. For the first time, we demonstrated that a
gene cluster, which is composed of tf, mot, cad, mfs and p450, plays an important role in the
itaconic acid biosynthesis pathway.
acid in industry for many years. The gene, which encodes cis-aconitic acid decarboxylase (cad),
is essential for itaconic acid production in A. terreus. To investigate the regulation of CAD
enzyme function and the pathway for itaconic acid biosynthesis, analysis of A. terreus ESTs
generated from a time course of itaconic acid production was performed and led to the discovery
of a cluster of 5 genes. In addition to cad, the cluster is predicted to encode a transcription factor
(tf), mitochondrial organic acid transporter (mot), MFS type transporter (mfs) and a p450
oxidase (p450). Deletion strains for each gene were constructed and itaconic acid production
was analyzed. In the deleted tf strain, the itaconic acid production was dramatically decreased
compared to wild type. In the Dtf strain, expression level of each gene was analyzed by RT-PCR.
In Dmot, Dcad, itaconic acid is almost not detected. For the first time, we demonstrated that a
gene cluster, which is composed of tf, mot, cad, mfs and p450, plays an important role in the
itaconic acid biosynthesis pathway.