Disruption of UDP-galactopyranose mutase expression: A novel strategy for regulation of galactomannan biosynthesis and monascus pigments secretion in Monascus purpureus M9.

The impact of the cell wall structure of Monascus purpureus M9 on the secretion of extracellular monascus pigments (exMPs) was investigated. To modify the cell wall structure, UDP-galactopyranose mutase (GlfA) was knocked out using Agrobacterium-mediated transformation method, leading to a significant reduction in the Galf-based polysaccharide within the cell wall. Changes in mycelium morphology, sporogenesis, and the expression of relevant genes in M9 were also observed following the mutation. Regarding MPs secretion, a notable increase was observed in six types of exMPs (R1, R2, Y1, Y2, O1 and O2). Specifically, these exMPs exhibited enhancement of 1.33, 1.59, 0.8, 2.45, 2.89 and 4.03 times, respectively, compared to the wild-type strain. These findings suggest that the alteration of the cell wall structure could selectively influence the secretion of MPs in M9. The underlying mechanisms were also discussed. This research contributes new insights into the regulation of the synthesis and secretion of MPs in Monascus spp..

Improvement of the quality of soy sauce by reducing enzyme activity in Aspergillus oryzae.

How to effectively increase or decrease the ability of A. oryzae to produce enzymes was the key to improve the quality of soy sauce. However, multi-core property of A. oryzae resulted in genetic instability of the new strain. Here, A. oryzae 3.042-3 which can stably produce mononuclear spores was constructed based on A. oryzae 3.042. A. oryzae 3.042-3-c obtained by transformation of the fragment of cis-CreA into A. oryzae 3.042-3 exhibited genetic stability. The fragment containing the cis-acting and the promoter CreA from A. oryzae was connected to chromosome VII in A. oryzae 3.042-3-c. Compared with A. oryzae 3.042-3, the cellulase activity of A. oryzae 3.042-3-c was reduced by 50.5% and the pectinase activity was decreased by 10.0%. At the end of the soy sauce fermentation, the salt-free solid content of A. oryzae 3.042-3-c was higher 58.9% than that of A. oryzae 3.042-3. The kinds and contents of the flavor components of the soy sauce from the fermentation by A. oryzae 3.042-3-c were higher than those of the A. oryzae 3.042 and A. oryzae 3.042-3, especially in alcohols and esters. HEMF was only found in the soy sauce from A. oryzae 3.042-3-c. The results indicated that the new strain A. oryzae 3.042-3-c could improve the quality of soy sauce from the low-salt solid fermentation by decreasing enzyme activity of cellulase and pectinase.