Functional analysis of OAT gene in Aspergillus Niger

Chuang Zhou, Xihong He, Hao Liu

MOE key laboratory of Industrial Fermentation Microbiology, College of Biotechnology, Tianjin University of Science & Technology, Tianjin, China.

DOI: 10.4236/eng.2012.410B036                

Abstract

Mitochondrial oxaloacetate transporter protein encoded by OAT gene transports oxaloacetate from cytoplasm into mitochondria. To investigate the primary effects of OAT gene on relative metabolism in Aspergillus niger, a oat-deleted mutant was derived from wild-type A. niger ATCC1015 using the double-crossover chromosome replacement technique. Then batch fermentation was performed to evaluate the mutant. Compared with the wild type, the mutant showed lower organic acids production, with the experimental data that the production of pyruvate and 2-ketoglutarate decreased by 31.6% and 35.7%, respectively, and by contrast, the mutant showed higher glycerol formation. The results suggest that OAT gene plays significant roles on metabolism in A. niger.

Keywords

Aspergillus Niger; Oxaloacetate Transporter; Organic Acids; Glycerol Formation

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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