Gß-like CpcB plays a crucial role for growth and development of Aspergillus nidulans and Aspergillus fumigatus.

Growth, development, virulence and secondary metabolism in fungi are governed by heterotrimeric G proteins (G proteins). A Gß-like protein called Gib2 has been shown to function as an atypical Gß in Gpa1-cAMP signaling in Cryptococcus neoformans. We found that the previously reported CpcB (cross pathway control B) protein is the ortholog of Gib2 in Aspergillus nidulans and Aspergillus fumigatus. In this report, we further characterize the roles of CpcB in governing growth, development and toxigenesis in the two aspergilli. The deletion of cpcB results in severely impaired cellular growth, delayed spore germination, and defective asexual sporulation (conidiation) in both aspergilli. Moreover, CpcB is necessary for proper expression of the key developmental activator brlA during initiation and progression of conidiation in A. nidulans and A. fumigatus. Somewhat in accordance with the previous study, the absence of cpcB results in the formation of fewer, but not micro-, cleistothecia in A. nidulans in the presence of wild type veA, an essential activator of sexual development. However, the cpcB deletion mutant cleistothecia contain no ascospores, validating that CpcB is required for progression and completion of sexual fruiting including ascosporogenesis. Furthermore, unlike the canonical GßSfaD, CpcB is not needed for the biosynthesis of the mycotoxin sterigmatocystin (ST) as the cpcB null mutant produced reduced amount of ST with unaltered STC gene expression. However, in A. fumigatus, the deletion of cpcB results in the blockage of gliotoxin (GT) production. Further genetic analyses in A. nidulans indicate that CpcB may play a central role in vegetative growth, which might be independent of FadA- and GanB-mediated signaling. A speculative model summarizing the roles of CpcB in conjunction with SfaD in A. nidulans is presented.

[Advance in producing higher alcohols by microbial cell factories].

Higher alcohols have a high energy density, low hygroscopicity and can be mixed with gasoline at any ratio. It is the trend to replace fossil fuels with biofuels produced via microbial fermentation of renewable resources. We reviewed the progress in the development of engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Escherichia coli that can produce higher alcohols, as well as the related technology platforms. We mainly focused on the construction of CoA-dependent pathways and alpha-keto acid mediated non-fermentative pathways, analyzed their respective characteristics, and summarized the construction strategies. The problems to be solved and future research direction were also discussed.

Mutagenizing brewing yeast strain for improving fermentation property of beer.

A brewing yeast mutant with perfect sugar fermentation capacity was isolated by mutagenizing the Saccharomyces pastorianus transformant, which carries an integrated glucoamylase gene and has one copy of non-functional alpha-acetolactate synthase gene. The mutant was able to utilize maltotriose efficiently, and the maltotriose fermentability in YNB-2% maltotriose medium increased from 32.4% to 72.0% after 5 d in shaking culture. The wort fermentation test confirmed that the sugar fermentation property of the mutant was greatly improved, while its brewing performances were analogous to that of the wild-type strain and the characteristic trait of shortened beer maturation period was retained. Therefore, we believe that the brewing yeast mutant would benefit the beer industry and would be useful for low caloric beer production.

Constructing an amylolytic brewing yeast Saccharomyces pastorianus suitable for accelerated brewing.

An amylolytic brewing yeast Saccharomyces pastorianus, free of vector sequences and drug-resistance genes, was constructed by disrupting the alpha-acetolactate synthase gene and introducing the alpha-amylase gene as a selective marker. The resulting recombinant strain was able to utilize starch as the sole carbon source and its alpha-acetolactate synthase activity was lowered by 30%. Fermentation tests confirmed that the diacetyl concentration and the residual oligosaccharide were reduced by 70% and 25%, respectively, in fermented wort by the recombinant strain, while the brewing performance of the recombinant strain was retained.