Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of the filamentous fungus Aspergillus awamori

Many transformation methods have been developed to introduce DNA into filamentous fungi. One of these methods is Agrobacterium-mediated transformation (AMT). Here, we describe an efficient protocol for AMT of Aspergillus awamori. This protocol has been used to determine the function of Agrobacterium virulence genes during AMT, to identify factors influencing transformation frequencies, to generate insertional mutants and to generate A. awamori gene knockout transformants. This protocol in not only applicable to A. awamori, but can be used as a more general guideline for AMT of other filamentous fungi. Conidiospores are incubated with induced Agrobacterium, and, after a cocultivation and selection period, hygromycin-resistant transformants are obtained with a frequency of 200-250 transformants per 1 x 10(6) conidiospores. Using this protocol, transformants can be obtained within 10-12 d.     

Agrobacterium-mediated transformation leads to improved gene replacement efficiency in Aspergillus awamori

In this study, the efficiency of gene replacement in Aspergillus awamori between Agrobacterium-mediated transformation and CaCl(2)/PEG-mediated transformation was compared. For the genes, pyrG and gfaA, it was found that the homologous recombination frequencies obtained by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation were 3- to 6-fold higher than the frequencies obtained with CaCl(2)/PEG protoplast transformation. For the pyrG gene, it was found that Agrobacterium-mediated transformation allowed an efficient homologous recombination with shorter DNA flanks than CaCl(2)/PEG protoplast transformation. Finally, the addition of the dominant amdS marker as a second selection marker to the gene replacement cassette led to a further 2-fold enrichment in transformants with gene replacement events, resulting in a gene replacement frequency of 55%. Based on the data it can be concluded that Agrobacterium-mediated transformation is an efficient tool for gene replacement and that the amdS gene can be successfully used as a second selection marker to select transformants with putative gene replacement.     

Stress-inducible bacterial proteins and virulence

Different species of pathogenic bacteria, including Salmonella, Neisseria, Listeria and Francisella have been used to demonstrate relationship between the synthesis of stressor induced proteins by cells and the phenotypic manifestation of their virulence. The impact of such external factors as high temperature, low pH, osmolarity, substrate limitation, the content of active forms of oxygen, etc. is accompanied by the synthesis of different stressor induced proteins playing a complex role. Under unfavorable environmental conditions the synthesis of these proteins ensures the survival of the infective agents. Under conditions of a macroorganism synthesis of some stressor induced proteins promotes the survival of infective agents and their resistance to the action of humoral and cell-mediated protective factors of the host. As is known, the expression of virulence genes is not constitutive. The expression of these genes greatly depends on environmental conditions and its induction is determined by extra- or intracellular location of the infective agent. Several systems of the regulation of bacterial pathogenicity factors have been described that are relatively not numerous, conservative and respond to external signals. The relevance of a number of stressor induced proteins of bacteria to virulence associated factors is discussed.     

Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of Aspergillus awamori in the absence of full-length VirD2, VirC2, or VirE2 leads to insertion of aberrant T-DNA structures

Reductions to 2, 5, and 42% of the wild-type transformation efficiency were found when Agrobacterium mutants carrying transposon insertions in virD2, virC2, and virE2, respectively, were used to transform Aspergillus awamori. The structures of the T-DNAs integrated into the host genome by these mutants were analyzed by Southern and sequence analyses. The T-DNAs of transformants obtained with the virE2 mutant had left-border truncations, whereas those obtained with the virD2 mutant had truncated right ends. From this analysis, it was concluded that the virulence proteins VirD2 and VirE2 are required for full-length T-DNA integration and that these proteins play a role in protecting the right and left T-DNA borders, respectively. Multicopy and truncated T-DNA structures were detected in the majority of the transformants obtained with the virC2 mutant, indicating that VirC2 plays a role in correct T-DNA processing and is required for single-copy T-DNA integration.     

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).     

Iron-regulated membrane proteins and bacterial virulence

The amount of iron that might be readily available to bacteria in body fluids is extremely small. This iron restricted environment induces phenotypic changes in the metabolism and in the composition of the membrane proteins of bacteria growingin vivo. These changes are now providing a fresh insight into the capabilities of bacteria to multiply in host tissues and are suggesting new possibilities for targetting therapeutic and prophylactic measures.     

Small GTP binding proteins and bacterial virulence

Many bacterial toxins and bacterial enzymes modify small GTPases. Toxins exhibit different enzymatic activities on either the switch 1 or switch 2 domains of these small GTPases leading to inactivation or activation of such intracellular timer molecules. In addition, some virulence factors of certain invasive bacteria such as Salmonella also modulate small GTP binding proteins either by mimicking GTPase exchange factors or GTPase activating proteins.     

Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of maize

Maize may be transformed very efficiently using Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated methods. The most critical factor in the transformation protocol is the co-cultivation of healthy immature embryos of the correct developmental stage with A. tumefaciens; the embryos should be collected only from vigorous plants grown in well-conditioned glasshouses. With the protocol described here, approximately 50% of immature embryos from the inbred line A188 and 15% from inbred lines A634, H99 and W117 will produce transformants. About half of the transformed plants are expected to carry one or two copies of the transgenes, which are inherited by the progeny in a mendelian fashion. More than 90% of transformants are expected to be normal in morphology. The protocol takes about 3 months from the start of co-cultivation to the planting of transformants into pots.     

泡盛曲霉植酸酶的酶学性质研究

泡盛曲霉植酸酶作为动物饲料添加剂具有广泛的应用前景。以半固体发酵方式培养泡盛曲霉AS3.324(Aspergillus awamori),并得到纯化的植酸酶。对其酶学性质研究表明:其反应最适温度为50～55℃,最适pH为5.5,在37℃下以植酸钠为底物的Km值为1.05nmol/L,Vmax为2.16μmol/(L.min)。EDTA基本不影响植酸酶活性;Ca2 、Mg2 、Mn2 对植酸酶活性有轻微的抑制作用;Fe2 、Zn2 对酶促反应有显著的抑制作用。对该酶的耐热性研究表明,在较高温度条件处理后,仍有较高残余酶活性,与当今商品化的植酸酶相比,有较强的耐热性。     

农杆菌介导的斑玉蕈遗传转化

【目的】将农杆菌介导的转化应用于重要的工厂化栽培食用菌斑玉蕈中,建立稳定的农杆菌介导的斑玉蕈遗传转化技术。【方法】将构建的双元载体pYN6982转入农杆菌LBA4404菌株中,以斑玉蕈SIEF3133菌株打碎的双核菌丝为受体材料,利用根癌农杆菌介导的转化方法进行斑玉蕈转化试验。【结果】经潮霉素抗性筛选、PCR鉴定以及有丝分裂稳定性试验验证,表明潮霉素磷酸转移酶基因(hph)已经整合到斑玉蕈的基因组中;转基因斑玉蕈菌丝在荧光显微镜下可以观测到绿色荧光,表明增强型绿色荧光蛋白基因(egfp)已经在转基因斑玉蕈菌株中获得了表达;通过PCR检测,随机挑选的8个转基因斑玉蕈菌株中有2个可以扩增出载体转移DNA(T-DNA)边界重复序列外的卡那霉素基因(kan)序列。【结论】获得了稳定遗传和表达的斑玉蕈转基因菌株,建立了农杆菌介导的斑玉蕈遗传转化方法。农杆菌介导的斑玉蕈遗传转化中,存在载体T-DNA边界重复序列之外的DNA序列转移到转基因斑玉蕈中的现象,有待进一步研究。     

Increase in glucoamylase productivity of Aspergillus awamori strain by combination of radiating mutagenesis and plasmid transformation methods

Increase in the level of amylolytic genes activator protein encoded by amyR gene was shown to result in enhancement of glucoamylase productivity of A. awamori strain by 30%. However, the same effect equal to 30% increase can be achieved by introduction of extra copies of gla gene encoding glucoamylase. These two effects were not additive, which gave the possibility to suggest an additional limitation in the egulation mechanism of glucoamylase gene expression in Aspergillus family strains while introducing an additional copies of amyR and gla genes.     

Agrobacterium-mediated transformation in Citrullus lanatus

Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation was used to produce transgenic watermelon. Cotyledonary explants of Citrullus lanatus Thumb (cv. Daesan) were co-cultivated with Agrobacterium strains (LBA4404, GV3101, EHA101) containing pPTN289 carrying with bar gene and pPTN290 carrying with nptII gene, respectively. There was a significant difference in the transformation frequency between bacteria strains and selective markers. The EHA101/pPTN289 showed higher transformation frequency (1.16 %) than GV3101/pPTN289 (0.33 %) and LBA4404/pPTN289 or /pPTN290 (0 %). The shoots obtained (633 and 57 lines) showed some resistance to glufosinate and paromomycin, respectively. Of them, the β-glucuronidase positive response and PCR products amplified by bar and nptII specific primers showed at least 21 plants resistant to glufosinate and at least 6 plants to paromomycin. Southern blot analysis revealed that the bar gene integrated into genome of transgenic watermelon. Acclimated transgenic watermelons were successfully transplanted in the greenhouse and showed no phenotypic variation.     

Translational control of alpha-amylase gene expression in Aspergillus awamori

Regulation of alpha-amylase gene expression in Aspergillus awamori was studied by analyzing the enzyme activity levels, rate of protein synthesis, and alpha-amylase-specific mRNA levels under various conditions of growth. alpha-Amylase synthesis was sensitive to catabolite repression as glucose repressed its synthesis by about fourfold. The stimulation of alpha-amylase synthesis in the presence of its substrate starch was shown to be due to derepression rather than induction as the enzyme was synthesized at similar rates in both starch and starvation media. Repression and derepression of enzyme synthesis was found to be mediated at the translational level. The cellular levels of alpha-amylase-specific mRNA as measured by an in vitro translation assay system, were almost identical under all conditions of enzyme synthesis. Relative in vivo and in vitro alpha-amylase mRNA template activities suggest that alpha-amylase mRNA is translated much more efficiently during the derepression than under the conditions of repressed synthesis.     

Perception of the bacterial PAMP EF-Tu by the receptor EFR restricts Agrobacterium-mediated transformation

Higher eukaryotes sense microbes through the perception of pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs). Arabidopsis plants detect a variety of PAMPs including conserved domains of bacterial flagellin and of bacterial EF-Tu. Here, we show that flagellin and EF-Tu activate a common set of signaling events and defense responses but without clear synergistic effects. Treatment with either PAMP results in increased binding sites for both PAMPs. We used this finding in a targeted reverse-genetic approach to identify a receptor kinase essential for EF-Tu perception, which we called EFR. Nicotiana benthamiana, a plant unable to perceive EF-Tu, acquires EF-Tu binding sites and responsiveness upon transient expression of EFR. Arabidopsis efr mutants show enhanced susceptibility to the bacterium Agrobacterium tumefaciens, as revealed by a higher efficiency of T-DNA transformation. These results demonstrate that EFR is the EF-Tu receptor and that plant defense responses induced by PAMPs such as EF-Tu reduce transformation by Agrobacterium.     

Production of multiple forms of glucoamylase in Aspergillus awamori

The biosynthesis of glucoamylases in Aspergillus awamori was studied by in vivo protein labelling and analysis of glucoamylase-specific mRNAs. Two types of glucoamylases with molecular weights of 100,000 and 82,000 were shown to be synthesized de novo. Deglycosylation of the 100,000 molecular weight glucoamylase type resulted in the formation of another glucoamylase form with molecular weight of about 94,000. De novo synthesis of two types of glucoamylases was further confirmed by the existence of two types of glucoamylase-specific mRNAs, as demonstrated by in vitro translation and Northern blot analysis studies.