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Glycogen Metabolism Regulation in Neurospora crassa

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Biocommunication of Fungi

Abstract

Microorganisms accumulate glycogen as carbon and energy reserves to face adverse environmental conditions during growth and development. The processes of glycogen synthesis and degradation share similarities among different microorganisms. However, the regulation of the metabolism as a whole shows differences, likely due to the environmental conditions to which they individually respond. This chapter aims to present some molecular mechanisms that regulate glycogen metabolism in the fungus Neurospora crassa. The availability of its genome sequence (Galagan et al., Nature 422:859–868, 2003) and a collection of mutant strains, each carrying a deletion in a specific ORF, allowed investigation into the role of specific proteins as regulators of glycogen metabolism to begin. Here we present some biochemical and molecular mechanisms that have already been described for this fungus, and additionally, we focused on more recent findings including the molecular basis underlying the metabolism regulation, mainly at transcriptional level.

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Acknowledgements

The work in the author’s laboratory was supported by grants and fellowships from FAPESP (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo), CNPq (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico), and CAPES (Coorde nação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Bioquímica e Tecnologia Química, Instituto de Química, UNESP, R. Prof. Francisco Degni, 55, 14800-900, Araraquara, São Paulo, Brazil

    Maria C. Bertolini, Fernanda Z. Freitas, Fernanda B. Cupertino & Rodrigo D. Goncalves

  2. Nalco Company, 7705 Hwy 90A, Sugar Land, TX, 77478, USA

    Renato M. de Paula

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  1. Maria C. Bertolini
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  2. Fernanda Z. Freitas
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  3. Renato M. de Paula
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  4. Fernanda B. Cupertino
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  5. Rodrigo D. Goncalves
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Correspondence to Maria C. Bertolini .

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  1. Telos - Philosophische Praxis, Vogelsangstr. 18c, Bürmoos, 5111, Austria

    Günther Witzany

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Bertolini, M.C., Freitas, F.Z., de Paula, R.M., Cupertino, F.B., Goncalves, R.D. (2012). Glycogen Metabolism Regulation in Neurospora crassa . In: Witzany, G. (eds) Biocommunication of Fungi. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4264-2_3

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