Disruption of non-anchored cell wall protein NCW-1 promotes cellulase production by increasing cellobiose uptake in Neurospora crassa

• Published in: Biotechnology letters 2017-04, Vol.39 (4), p.545-551
• Main Authors: Lin, Liangcai, Chen, Yong, Li, Jingen, Wang, Shanshan, Sun, Wenliang, Tian, Chaoguang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Applied Microbiology; beta-Glucosidase - metabolism; Biochemistry; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biotechnology; Carbon; Cell Wall - metabolism; Cellobiose - metabolism; Cellular biology; Cellulase; Cellulase - genetics; Cellulase - metabolism; Cellulose - analogs & derivatives; Cellulose - metabolism; Deletion; Dextrins - metabolism; Fungal Proteins - genetics; Fungal Proteins - metabolism; Fungi; Gene expression; Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal; Life Sciences; Membrane Transport Proteins - genetics; Membrane Transport Proteins - metabolism; Microbiology; Neurospora; Neurospora crassa; Neurospora crassa - enzymology; Neurospora crassa - genetics; Original Research Paper; Pathways; Proteins; Signal Transduction; Uptakes
• ISSN: 0141-5492; 1573-6776
• DOI: 10.1007/s10529-016-2274-1

Objectives To elucidate the mechanism of cellulase signal transduction in filamentous fungi including the components of the cellulase induction pathway. Results Neurospora crassa ncw - 1 encodes a non-anchored cell wall protein. The absence of ncw - 1 increased cellulase gene expression and this is not due to relieving carbon catabolite repression mediated by the cre - 1 pathway. A mutant lacking genes encoding both three major β-glucosidase enzymes and NCW-1 (Δ3βGΔ ncw - 1 ) was constructed. Transcriptome analysis of the quadruple mutant demonstrated enhanced expression of cellodextrin transporters after ncw - 1 deletion, indicating that ncw - 1 affects cellulase expression and production by inhibiting the uptake of the cellodextrin. Conclusions NCW-1 is a novel component that plays a critical role in the cellulase induction signaling pathway.