Inulinolytic activity of broths of Aspergillus niger ATCC 204447 cultivated in shake flasks and stirred tank bioreactor

It is the first detailed study of an inulinolytic fungus Aspergillus niger ATCC 204447 since its discovery, covering submerged cultivations both in shake flasks and a stirred tank bioreactor. Various carbon sources were applied to induce the inulinolytic activity in shake flask cultures. The highest volumetric and specific (per gram of biomass) activities (respectively 0.68 U/mL and 184 U g/X) were observed for the initial inulin and sucrose concentrations equal to 20 g/L. The fungus grew as large (>3 mm) spherical pellets. The influence of inoculum density and application of microparticle‐enhanced cultivation (MPEC) were studied in the batch bioreactor cultivations. Inoculum density moderately affected the inulinolytic activities, whose highest values were 0.7 U/mL and 165 U g/X at the lowest studied spore density of 3.33·10⁸ L^?1. Dispersed hyphae evolved in the bioreactor made the broth difficult to aerate due to high apparent viscosity (exceeding 200 Pa sⁿ at shear rate about 0.05 s^?1) and shear thinned properties (flow behavior index below 0.2). In MPEC (10 μm talc microparticles) the pellets of diameter between 1 and 2 mm were formed, which facilitated the aeration of the broth and increased the specific inulinolytic activity 3.5‐fold.     

Purification and characterization of extracellular phytase from Aspergillus niger ATCC 9142

Extracellular phytase produced by Aspergillus niger ATCC 9142 was purified to homogeneity by employing an initial ultrafiltration step, followed by chromatography using ion exchange, gel filtration and chromatofocusing steps. The purified enzyme was an 84 kDa, monomeric protein. It possessed a temperature optimum of 65 degrees C, and a pH optimum of 5.0. Km and Vmax values of 100 microM and 7 nmol/s, respectively, were recorded and these values fall well within the range of those previously reported for microbial phytases. Substrate specificity studies indicated that, while the enzyme could hydrolyse a range of non-phytate-based phosphorylated substrates, its preferred substrate was phytate. Phytase activity was moderately stimulated in the presence of Mg2+, Mn2+, Cu2+, Cd2+, Hg2+, Zn2+ and F- ions. Activity was not significantly affected by Fe2- or Fe3- and was moderately inhibited by Ca2+. The enzyme displayed higher thermostability at 80 degrees C than did two commercial phytase products. Initial characterisation of the purified enzyme suggested that it could be a potential candidate for use as an animal feed supplement.     

Antifungal effects of citronella oil against Aspergillus niger ATCC 16404

Essential oils are aromatic oily liquids obtained from some aromatic plant materials. Certain essential oils such as citronella oil contain antifungal activity, but the antifungal effect is still unknown. In this study, we explored the antifungal effect of citronella oil with Aspergillus niger ATCC 16404. The antifungal activity of citronella oil on conidia of A. niger was determined by poisoned food technique, broth dilution method, and disc volatility method. Experimental results indicated that the citronella oil has strong antifungal activity: 0.125 (v/v) and 0.25 % (v/v) citronella oil inhibited the growth of 5?×?10⁵ spore/ml conidia separately for 7 and 28 days while 0.5 % (v/v) citronella oil could completely kill the conidia of 5?×?10⁵ spore/ml. Moreover, the fungicidal kinetic curves revealed that more than 90 % conidia (initial concentration is 5?×?10⁵ spore/ml) were killed in all the treatments with 0.125 to 2 % citronella oil after 24 h. Furthermore, with increase of citronella oil concentration and treatment time, the antifungal activity was increased correspondingly. The 0.5 % (v/v) concentration of citronella oil was a threshold to kill the conidia thoroughly. The surviving conidia treated with 0.5 to 2 % citronella oil decreased by an order of magnitude every day, and no fungus survived after 10 days. With light microscope, scanning electron microscope, and transmission electron microscope, we found that citronella oil could lead to irreversible alteration of the hyphae and conidia. Based on our observation, we hypothesized that the citronella oil destroyed the cell wall of the A. niger hyphae, passed through the cell membrane, penetrated into the cytoplasm, and acted on the main organelles. Subsequently, the hyphae was collapsed and squashed due to large cytoplasm loss, and the organelles were severely destroyed. Similarly, citronella oil could lead to the rupture of hard cell wall and then act on the sporoplasm to kill the conidia. Nevertheless, the citronella oil provides a potential of being a safe and environmentally friendly fungicide in the future.     

Morphology engineering of Aspergillus niger for improved enzyme production

Supplementation with silicate microparticles was used as novel approach to control the morphological development of Aspergillus niger, important as the major world source of citric acid and higher‐value enzymes, in submerged culture. With careful variation of size and concentration of the micromaterial added, a number of distinct morphological forms including pellets of different size, free dispersed mycelium, and short hyphae fragments could be reproducibly created. Aluminum oxide particles similarly affected morphology, showing that this effect is largely independent of the chemical particle composition. Image analysis of morphological development of A. niger during the cultivation process showed that the microparticles influence the morphology by collision‐induced disruption of conidia aggregates and probably also the hindrance of new spore–spore interactions in the very early stage of the process. Exemplified for different recombinant A. niger strains enzyme production could be strongly enhanced by the addition of microparticles. Linked to the formation of freely dispersed mycelium, titers for glucoamylase (GA) expressed as intracellular enzyme (88 U/mL) and fructofuranosidase secreted into the supernatant (77 U/mL), were up to fourfold higher in shake flasks. Moreover, accumulation of the undesired by‐product oxalate was suppressed by up to 90%. The microparticle strategy could be successfully transferred to fructofuranosidase production in bioreactor, where a final titer of 160 U/mL could be reached. Using co‐expression of GA with green fluorescent protein, enzyme production was localized in the cellular aggregates of A. niger. For pelleted growth, protein production was maximal only within a thin layer at the pellet surface and markedly decreased in the pellet interior, whereas the interaction with the microparticles created a highly active biocatalyst with the dominant fraction of cells contributing to production. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2010;105: 1058–1068. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Morphology and citric acid production of Aspergillus niger PM 1

Summary Aspergillus niger PM 1 was grown in a tubular loop and a stirred tank bioreactor. Batch fermentations were performed under various agitation conditions and pH. Citric acid, oxalic acid, extracellular polysaccharides and proteins were assayed. The following morphological parameters were measured: mean perimeter of clumps, mean perimeter of the central core of clumps, mean length of filaments and mean diameter of filaments. Citric acid production and morphology in both reactors were dependent on agitation intensity and pH. The length of the filaments was shown to be the only parameter that could be related to citric acid production in both reactors: the shorter the filaments the more citric acid was produced. However, for the same amount of citric acid produced the morphology of the organism grown in the stirred tank differed considerably from that grown in the loop reactor.     

Biotransformation of terpenes from Stemodia maritima by Aspergillus niger ATCC 9142.

Incubation of stemodin (1) in cultures of Aspergillus niger ATCC 9142 resulted in the production of 2alpha,3beta,13-trihydroxystemodane (2), 2alpha,7beta,13-trihydroxystemodane (3) and 2alpha,13,16beta-trihydroxystemodane (4), while stemodinone (5) afforded 13,18-dihydroxystemodan-2-one (6) and 13,16beta-dihydroxystemodan-2-one (7). Four novel metabolites were obtained from the bioconversion of stemarin (8) by the fungus, namely 18-hydroxystemaran-19-oic acid (9), 7beta,18-dihydroxystemaran-19-oic acid (10), 7alpha,18,19-trihydroxystemarane (11) and 1beta-hydroxystemaran-19-oic acid (12). 19-N,N-Dimethylcarbamoxy-13-hydroxystemarane (13) was also transformed to afford 19-N,N-dimethylcarbamoxy-13,17xi,18-trihydroxystemarane (14).     

Metabolite profiles and growth characteristics of Rhizobium meliloti cultivated at different specific growth rates

Rhizobium meliloti (ATCC 55340) was grown at different specific growth rates in a chemostat apparatus. Metabolic products, relating to the Embden-Meyerhof-Parnas (EMP) pathway and the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, were measured and quantified to probe the influence of specific growth rate on the distribution of important metabolites. The detection of propionate in the fermentation broth implies that the imbalance of reducing equivalents of FADH(2) and NADH + H(+) resulted in a partially reductive operation of the TCA cycle. Additionally, experimental results show that the specific growth rate plays an essential role in modulating the biomass concentration, the specific substrate uptake rate, the cell length, the specific exopolysaccharide (EPS) production rate, the distribution of EPS molecular weight, and the profiles of carbohydrate and organic acid. The specific EPS production rate (varying from 13.3 to 111 mg EPS/g-DW/h) follows a growth-associated pattern at the specific growth rate ranging from 0.06 to 0.20 h(-1) and switches into non-growth-associated mode when the specific growth rate is over 0.20 h(-1).     

Molecular cloning and characterization of the fructooligosaccharide-producing beta-fructofuranosidase gene from Aspergillus niger ATCC 20611

The fopA gene encoding a fructooligosaccharide-producing beta-fructofuranosidase was isolated from Aspergillus niger ATCC 20611. The primary structure deduced from the nucleotide sequence showed considerable similarity to those of two other beta-fructofuranosidases from A. niger, but the fopA gene product had several amino acid insertions and an extra C-terminal polypeptide consisting of 38 amino acids that could not be found in the two others. We could successfully express the fopA gene in S. cerevisiae and the fopA gene product obtained from the culture supernatant of the S. cerevisiae transformant had similar characteristics to the beta-fructofuranosidase purified from A. niger ATCC 20611. However, we could not detect any beta-fructofuranosidase activity in either the culture supernatant or cell lysate when the C-terminal truncated fopA gene product by 38 amino acids was used to transform S. cerevisiae. In western analysis of those samples, there was no protein product that is cross-reacted with anti-beta-fructofuranosidase antibody. These results suggested that the C-terminal region of the fopA gene product consisting of 38 amino acids was essential for the enzyme production.     

Pilot-scale citric acid production with Aspergillus niger under several conditions

Citric acid fermentations with Aspergillus niger in stirred tank reactors (500 l and 2.6 m³) were carried out using cane juice, cane molasses and a synthetic medium. Highest yields were obtained with the cane juice and synthetic medium. The rate of stirring had a pronounced influence on the morphology of A. niger.     

黑曲霉对黄曲霉生长、产毒及黄曲霉毒素B1的影响

目的研究黑曲霉对黄曲霉生长、产毒的抑制作用及对AFB1的降解作用。方法将黑曲霉分别与黄曲霉、AFB1共同培养,定期测定培养液pH、菌丝体干重、黄曲霉孢子数、AFB1含量。结果黑曲霉与黄曲霉混合培养时,黄曲霉孢子数、AFB1含量均比单独培养的低,2组之间差异有统计学意义(P<0.05),抑制率达到68.06%~91.52%;加入黑曲霉后,AFB1含量降低,实验组与对照组之间差异有统计学意义(P<0.05),降解率为46.19%。结论黑曲霉既能抑制黄曲霉生长、产毒,又能降解AFB1。     

Localization of growth and secretion of proteins in Aspergillus niger

Hyphal growth and secretion of proteins in Aspergillus niger were studied using a new method of culturing the fungus between perforated membranes which allows visualization of both parameters. At the colony level the sites of occurrence of growth and general protein secretion were correlated. In 4-d-old colonies both growth and secretion were localized at the periphery of the colony, whereas in a 5-d-old colony growth and secretion also occurred in a more central zone of the colony where conidiophore differentiation was observed. However, in both cases glucoamylase secretion was mainly detected at the periphery of the colonies. At the hyphal level immunogold labelling showed glucoamylase secretion at the tips of leading hyphae only. Microautoradiography after labelling with N-acetylglucosamine showed that these hyphae were probably all growing. Glucoamylase secretion could not be demonstrated immediately after a temperature shock which stopped growth. These results indicate that glucoamylase secretion is located at the tips of growing hyphae only.     

Sugarcane molasses and yeast powder used in the Fructooligosaccharides production by Aspergillus japonicus-FCL 119T and Aspergillus niger ATCC 20611

Different concentrations of sucrose (3–25% w/v) and peptone (2–5% w/v) were studied in the formulation of media during the cultivation of Aspergillus japonicus-FCL 119T and Aspergillus niger ATCC 20611. Moreover, cane molasses (3.5–17.5% w/v total sugar) and yeast powder (1.5–5% w/v) were used as alternative nutrients for both strains’ cultivation. These media were formulated for analysis of cellular growth, β-Fructosyltransferase and Fructooligosaccharides (FOS) production. Transfructosylating activity (U _t ) and FOS production were analyzed by HPLC. The highest enzyme production by both the strains was 3% (w/v) sucrose and 3% (w/v) peptone, or 3.5% (w/v) total sugars present in cane molasses and 1.5% (w/v) yeast powder. Cane molasses and yeast powder were as good as sucrose and peptone in the enzyme and FOS (around 60% w/w) production by studied strains.     

Two Components of Cell-bound Isopullulanase from Aspergillus niger ATCC 9642—Their Purification and Enzymatic Properties

Cell-bound isopullulanase (pullulan 4-glucanohydrolase: EC 3.2.1.57, IPU) from Aspergillus niger ATCC 9642 [Y. Sakano et al, Denpun Kagaku, 37, 39–41 (1990)] was separated into two active components, IPU F1 (pI = 5.0) and IPU F2 (pI = 4.9), using a Mono-P HR 5/20 column. The substrate specificity on pullulan and panose, specific activity, optimum pH, pH stability, and susceptibility to certain chemical reagents were similar between IPU F1 and IPU F2. IPU F1 and F2 had an identical N-terminal amino acid sequence, A-V-T-A-D-N-S-Q-L-L-. However, IPU F1 contained more total carbohydrate (15.3%) than IPU F2 (12.4%). SDS–polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis showed that the molecular weight of IPU F1 (71,000) was greater than that of IPU F2 (69,000). After deglycosylation of IPU F1 and F2 with peptide-N-glycosidase F, the molecular weights of IPU F1 and F2 became 59,000.     

Molecular docking and dynamics simulations of A.niger RNase from Aspergillus niger ATCC26550: for potential prevention of human cancer

The aim of the present research was to study the anticancer effects of Aspergillus niger (A.niger) RNase. We found that RNase (A.niger RNase) significantly and dose dependently inhibited invasiveness of breast cancer cell line MDA MB 231 by 55 % (P?<?0.01) at 1 μM concentration. At a concentration of 2 μM, the anti invasive effect of the enzyme increased to 90 % (P?<?0.002). Keeping the aim to determine molecular level interactions (molecular simulations and protein docking) of human actin with A.niger RNase we extended our work in-vitro to in-silico studies. To gain better relaxation and accurate arrangement of atoms, refinement was done on the human actin and A.niger RNase by energy minimization (EM) and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations using 43A² force field of Gromacs96 implemented in the Gromacs 4.0.5 package, finally the interaction energies were calculated by protein-protein docking using the HEX. These in vitro and in-silico structural studies prove the effective inhibition of actin activity by A.niger RNase in neoplastic cells and thereby provide new insights for the development of novel anti cancer drugs.     

Agitation effects on submerged growth and product formation of Aspergillus niger

Product formation of mycelial organisms, like Aspergillus niger, is intimately connected with their morphology. Pellet morphology is often requested for product formation. Therefore, it is important to reveal the influence of the hydrodynamic conditions on the morphological development. In the present study, pellet morphology and glucoamylase formation were studied under different agitation intensities of A. niger AB1.13. For pellet formation inside the bioreactor, without the use of precultures, it is necessary to work at low energy dissipation rates. Biomass growth and glucoamylase activity were correlated with energy dissipation. Furthermore, product yield was analysed in dependence of pellet size and concentration. The present work shows that simple equations based on Monod-kinetics can describe growth and product formation, in general, also in mycelian organisms. All measured morphological data, like pellet concentration, as well as glucoamylase formation, strongly depend on the hydrodynamic conditions.     

Yellow Pigments of Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus awamori

Alkaline degradation of Aurasperone A, C₃₂H₂₆O₁₀, gave a binaphthyl (IIa), m.p. 255°C and acetone. (IIa) afforded a tetraacetate (IIb), C₃₂H₃₀O₁₂ m.p. 219°C and a tetramethyl ether (IId), C₂₈H₃₀O₈, m.p. 188°C. These facts along with the NMR spectra of aurasperone A and (IIb) confirm that aurasperone A is a dimeric 2-methyl-5-hydroxy-6,8-dimethoxy-4H-naphtho[2,3-b]pyran-4-one with asymmetric C-C linkage (7-10′ or 9-10′). The ether (IId) is not identical with 1,1′ ,3,3′ ?6,6′ ,8,8′-octamethoxy-4,4′-binaphthyl. Thus, it follows that (IId) is a 2,4′-binaphthyl and hence aurasperone A is 2,2′-dimethyl-5,5′- dihydroxy-6,6′,8,8′-tetrahydroxy-7,10′-bi[4H-naphtho[2,3-b]pyran-4-one] (I).