Proteomics of eukaryotic microorganisms: The medically and biotechnologically important fungal genus Aspergillus

Abstract

Fungal species of the genus Aspergillus play significant roles as model organisms in basic research, as "cell factories" for the production of organic acids, pharmaceuticals or industrially important enzymes and as pathogens causing superficial and invasive infections in animals and humans. The release of the genome sequences of several Aspergillus sp. has paved the way for global analyses of protein expression in Aspergilli including the characterisation of proteins, which have not designated any function. With the application of proteomic methods, particularly 2-D gel and LC-MS/MS-based methods, first insights into the composition of the proteome of Aspergilli under different growth and stress conditions could be gained. Putative targets of global regulators led to the improvement of industrially relevant Aspergillus strains and so far not described Aspergillus antigens have already been discovered. Here, I review the recent proteome data generated for the species Aspergillus nidulans, Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus terreus, Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus oryzae.

Transcriptional Changes in the Transition from Vegetative Cells to Asexual Development in the Model Fungus Aspergillus nidulans

“…In the genus Aspergillus, which includes model organisms as well as industrially and medically important species, proteomic studies have focused mainly on two-dimensional PAGE (2D-PAGE) coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (MS-MS), gaining valuable insight into the composition of the proteome under different growth and stress conditions (3). The main transcriptomic approach to the development, stress response, or secondary metabolite production of aspergilli has involved microarray analyses (see, for example, references 4-6, and 7).…”

Effective saccharification of kraft pulp by using a cellulase cocktail prepared from genetically engineered Aspergillus oryzae

“…Utilization of the filamentous fungus Aspergillus oryzae can enable low-cost cellulase production because it can produce and secrete a large amount of cellulase enzyme extracellularly. 4,5) We first constructed cellulase-secreting A. oryzae strains by genetic engineering. The genetic properties of the strains and the plasmids used in the present study are summarized in Table 1.…”

“…9) Firstly, the effective ratio of CBHI was examined by varying every 10 wt.% CBHI at the same total protein concentration (5 mg-protein/g-kraft pulp) with the fix ratio of remaining three enzymes (BGL:CBHII:EG = 12:5:37; wt./wt./wt.). For example, saccharification at 30 wt.% CBHI was carried out by using 1.5 mg of CBHI and 3.5 mg of three enzyme mixture (0.78 mg of BGL, 5) 0.32 mg of CBHII, and 2.40 mg of EG). Saccharification efficiency was evaluated by determining the produced glucose concentration.…”

Proteomics Methodology Applied to the Analysis of Filamentous Fungi - New Trends for an Impressive Diverse Group of Organisms

“…However, the number of global protein expression studies on Aspergillus is still relatively low. The majority of the Aspergillus proteome research is still represented by quantitative 2D studies (Carberry and Doyle, 2007;Kim et al, 2008;Kniemeyer, 2011) and less than 10% of the predicted whole proteome of Aspergillus sp. has been identified and quantified until now.…”

“…Besides, they usually present a dramatic low abundance. Thus, despite the technical progresses, the proteomic analysis of cell wall and membrane proteins remains as a tough task in filamentous fungi supposing a trending Proteomics challenge (Kniemeyer, 2011).…”