Regulation of Pentose Catabolic Pathway Genes of Aspergillus niger

Marco J.L. de Groot¹, Carline van den Dool², Han A.B. Wösten², Mark Levisson¹, Patricia A. vanKuyk¹, George J.G. Ruijter¹ and Ronald P. de Vries²*

¹Fungal Genomics, Wageningen University, Dreijenlaan 2, NL-6703 HA Wageningen, The Netherlands
²Microbiology, Utrecht University, Padulaan 8, NL-3584 CH Utrecht, The Netherlands

Article history:
Received August 15, 2006
Accepted December 11, 2006

Key words:
Aspergillus niger, pentose catabolism, regulation, XlnR, AraR, L-arabinose, D-xylose

Summary:
The aim of this study was to obtain a better understanding of the pentose catabolism in Aspergillus niger and the regulatory systems that affect it. To this end, we have cloned and characterised the genes encoding A. niger L-arabitol dehydrogenase (ladA) and xylitol dehydrogenase (xdhA), and compared the regulation of these genes to other genes of the pentose catabolic pathway. This demonstrated that activation of the pathway depends on two transcriptional regulators, the xylanolytic activator (XlnR) and an unidentified L-arabinose specific regulator (AraR). These two regulators affect those genes of the pentose catabolic pathway that are related to catabolic conversion of their corresponding inducers (D-xylose and L-arabinose, respectively).

*Corresponding author:           This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
                                               ++31 30 2533 016
                                               ++31 30 2513 655