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Aspergillus niger citric acid accumulation: do we understand this well working black box?

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Abstract

This Mini-Review summarizes the current knowledge on the biochemical and physiological events leading to massive citric acid accumulation by Aspergillus niger under industrially comparable conditions, thereby particularly emphasizing the roles of glycolytic flux and its control, excretion of citric acid from the mitochondria and the cytosol, and the critical fermentation variables. The potential of novel techniques for metabolic analysis and genomic approaches in understanding this fermentation is also discussed.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are cooperating within the framework of an Austro-Hungarian Intergovernmental Science and Technology Cooperation Programme (A-26/2000). The authors are grateful to Dr. Elisabeth Sandor for drawing Fig. 2.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Applied Biochemistry and Gene Technology, Institute of Chemical Engineering, TU Wien, Getreidemarkt 9/166, 1060, Vienna, Austria

    Christian P. Kubicek

  2. Department of Microbiology and Biotechnology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Debrecen, , P.O. Box 63, 4010, Debrecen, Hungary

    Levente Karaffa

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  1. Levente Karaffa
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  2. Christian P. Kubicek
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Correspondence to Christian P. Kubicek.

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Karaffa, L., Kubicek, C.P. Aspergillus niger citric acid accumulation: do we understand this well working black box?. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 61, 189–196 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-002-1201-7

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