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The C2H2-type transcription factor, FlbC, is involved in the transcriptional regulation of Aspergillus oryzae glucoamylase and protease genes specifically expressed in solid-state culture

  • Applied genetics and molecular biotechnology
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Abstract

Aspergillus oryzae produces a large amount of secreted proteins in solid-state culture, and some proteins such as glucoamylase (GlaB) and acid protease (PepA) are specifically produced in solid-state culture, but rarely in submerged culture. From the disruption mutant library of A. oryzae transcriptional regulators, we successfully identified a disruption mutant showing an extremely low production level of GlaB but a normal level of α-amylase production. This strain was a disruption mutant of the C2H2-type transcription factor, FlbC, which is reported to be involved in the regulation of conidiospore development. Disruption mutants of other upstream regulators comprising a conidiation regulatory network had no apparent effect on GlaB production in solid-state culture. In addition to GlaB, the production of acid protease in solid-state culture was also markedly decreased by flbC disruption. Northern blot analyses revealed that transcripts of glaB and pepA were significantly decreased in the flbC disruption strain. These results suggested that FlbC is involved in the transcriptional regulation of genes specifically expressed under solid-state cultivation conditions, possibly independent of the conidiation regulatory network.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Yoji Hata for kindly providing the anti-GlaB antibody and Yukihiro Nakamura for technical advice about the tyrosinase activity assay. We also thank Takeshi Akao for technical advice about total RNA extraction from A. oryzae cultured in solid-state culture and Osamu Mizutani for kindly providing the ∆ligD::loxP pyrG − strain. This study was supported by the Program for Promotion of Basic and Applied Researches for Innovations in Bio-oriented Industry and the Science and Technology Research Promotion Program for Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries and Food Industry.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Bioindustrial Genomics, Department of Bioindustrial Informatics and Genomics, Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Tohoku University, 1-1 Tsutsumidori-Amamiyamachi, Aoba-ku, Sendai, 981-8555, Japan

    Mizuki Tanaka, Midori Yoshimura, Takahiro Shintani & Katsuya Gomi

  2. Noda Institute for Scientific Research, 399 Noda, Noda, Chiba, 278-0037, Japan

    Masahiro Ogawa & Yasuji Koyama

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  1. Mizuki Tanaka
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  2. Midori Yoshimura
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  3. Masahiro Ogawa
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  4. Yasuji Koyama
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  5. Takahiro Shintani
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  6. Katsuya Gomi
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Correspondence to Katsuya Gomi.

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Mizuki Tanaka and Midori Yoshimura contributed equally to this article.

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Tanaka, M., Yoshimura, M., Ogawa, M. et al. The C2H2-type transcription factor, FlbC, is involved in the transcriptional regulation of Aspergillus oryzae glucoamylase and protease genes specifically expressed in solid-state culture. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 100, 5859–5868 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-016-7419-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-016-7419-6

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