Faculty Opinions recommendation of A phosphorylation code of the Aspergillus nidulans global regulator VelvetA (VeA) determines specific functions.

Fungi are a prospective resource of bioactive compounds, but conventional methods of drug discovery are not effective enough to fully explore their metabolic potential. This study aimed to develop an easily attainable method to elicit the metabolic potential of fungi using Aspergillus nidulans laeA as a transcription regulation tool. In this study, functional analysis of Aspergillus nidulans laeA (AnLaeA) and Aspergillus sp. Z5 laeA (Az5LaeA) was done in the fungus Aspergillus sp. Z5. Heterologous AnLaeA-and native Az5LaeA-overexpression exhibited similar phenotypic effects and caused an increase in production of a bioactive compound diorcinol in Aspergillus sp. Z5, which proved the conserved function of this global regulator. In particular, heteroexpression of AnLaeA showed a significant impact on the expression of velvet complex genes, diorcinol synthesis-related genes, and different transcription factors (TFs). Moreover, heteroexpression of AnLaeA influenced the whole genome gene expression of Aspergillus sp. Z5 and triggered the upregulation of many genes. Overall, these findings suggest that heteroexpression of AnLaeA in fungi serves as a simple and easy method to explore their metabolic potential. In relation to this, AnLaeA was overexpressed in the fungus Penicillium sp. LC1-4, which resulted in increased production of quinolactacin A.

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Deletion of a global regulator LaeB leads to the discovery of novel polyketides in Aspergillus nidulans

Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry ◽

10.1039/c8ob01326h ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 16 (27) ◽

pp. 4973-4976 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Haizhou Lin ◽

Haining Lyu ◽

Shuang Zhou ◽

Jingwen Yu ◽

Nancy P. Keller ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Aspergillus Nidulans ◽

Global Regulator

By disruption of LaeB, a global regulator recently characterized in Aspergillus nidulans, eight cryptic compounds in the mutant were identified, including seven polyketides and one NRPS-like product.

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A p53-like transcription factor similar to Ndt80 controls the response to nutrient stress in the filamentous fungus, Aspergillus nidulans

F1000Research ◽

10.12688/f1000research.2-72.v1 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 2 ◽

pp. 72 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

Margaret E Katz ◽

Kathryn Braunberger ◽

Gauncai Yi ◽

Sarah Cooper ◽

Heather M Nonhebel ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Aspergillus Nidulans ◽

Transcriptional Profiling ◽

Nutrient Stress ◽

Nutrient Sensing ◽

Carbon Limitation ◽

Nutrient Depletion ◽

Null Mutant ◽

Global Regulator ◽

Extracellular Proteases ◽

Number Of Genes

TheAspergillus nidulans xprGgene encodes a putative transcriptional activator that is a member of the Ndt80 family in the p53-like superfamily of proteins. Previous studies have shown that XprG controls the production of extracellular proteases in response to starvation. We undertook transcriptional profiling to investigate whether XprG has a wider role as a global regulator of the carbon nutrient stress response. Our microarray data showed that the expression of a large number of genes, including genes involved in secondary metabolism, development, high-affinity glucose uptake and autolysis, were altered in anxprGΔnull mutant. Many of these genes are known to be regulated in response to carbon starvation. We confirmed that sterigmatocystin and penicillin production is reduced inxprG-mutants. The loss of fungal mass and secretion of pigments that accompanies fungal autolysis in response to nutrient depletion was accelerated in anxprG1gain-of-function mutant and decreased or absent in anxprG-mutant. The results support the hypothesis that XprG plays a major role in the response to carbon limitation and that nutrient sensing may represent one of the ancestral roles for the p53-like superfamily. Disruption of the AN6015 gene, which encodes a second Ndt80-like protein, showed that it is required for sexual reproduction inA. nidulans.

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