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Influences of genetically perturbing synthesis of the typical yellow pigment on conidiation, cell wall integrity, stress tolerance, and cellulase production in Trichoderma reesei

  • Microbial Pathogenesis and Host-Microbe Interaction
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Abstract

The prominent protein producing workhorse Trichoderma reesei secretes a typical yellow pigment that is synthesized by a gene cluster including two polyketide synthase encoding genes sor1 and sor2. Two transcription factors (YPR1 and YPR2) that are encoded in the same cluster have been shown to regulate the expression of the sor genes. However, the physiological relevance of the yellow pigment synthesis in T. reesei is not completely clear. In this study, a yellow pigment hyper-producer OEypr1 and three yellow pigment non-producers, OEypr1-sor1, Δypr1, and OEypr2, were constructed. Their phenotypic features in mycelial growth, conidiation, cell wall integrity, stress tolerance, and cellulase production were determined. Whereas hyperproduction of the yellow pigment caused significant defects in all the physiological aspects tested, the non-producers showed similar colony growth, but improved conidiation, maintenance of cell wall integrity, and stress tolerance compared to the control strain. Moreover, in contrast to the severely compromised extracellular cellobiohydrolase production in the yellow pigment hyperproducer, loss of the yellow pigment hardly affected induced cellulase gene expression. Our results demonstrate that interfering with the yellow pigment synthesis constitutes an engineering strategy to endow T. reesei with preferred features for industrial application.

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Acknowledgments

This work is supported by grants from the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2019YFA-0905700), National Natural Science Foundation of China (31770047, 31970029, and 31670040), and Major basic research projects of Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (ZR2019ZD19).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology, Shandong University, Qingdao, 266237, P. R. China

    Weixin Zhang, Ning An, Junqi Guo, Zhixing Wang, Xiangfeng Meng & Weifeng Liu

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  1. Weixin Zhang
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  2. Ning An
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  3. Junqi Guo
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  4. Zhixing Wang
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  5. Xiangfeng Meng
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Correspondence to Weifeng Liu.

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Zhang, W., An, N., Guo, J. et al. Influences of genetically perturbing synthesis of the typical yellow pigment on conidiation, cell wall integrity, stress tolerance, and cellulase production in Trichoderma reesei. J Microbiol. 59, 426–434 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12275-021-0433-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12275-021-0433-0

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