Abstract
The industrially important filamentous fungus Aspergillus oryzae, known as the yellow Koji mold and also designated the Japanese National fungus, has been investigated for understanding the intracellular membrane trafficking machinery due to the great ability of valuable enzyme production. The underlying molecular mechanisms of the secretory pathway delineate the main secretion route from the hyphal tip via the vesicle cluster Spitzenkörper, but also there is a growing body of evidence that septum-directed and unconventional secretion occurs in A. oryzae hyphal cells. Moreover, not only the secretory pathway but also the endocytic pathway is crucial for protein secretion, especially having a role in apical endocytic recycling. As a hallmark of multicellular filamentous fungal cells, endocytic organelles early endosome and vacuole are quite dynamic: the former exhibits constant long-range motility through the hyphal cells and the latter displays pleiomorphic structures in each hyphal region. These characteristics are thought to have physiological roles, such as supporting protein secretion and transporting nutrients. This review summarizes molecular and physiological mechanisms of membrane traffic, i.e., secretory and endocytic pathways, in A. oryzae and related filamentous fungi and describes the further potential for industrial applications.
Highlights
The filamentous fungus Aspergillus oryzae, known as the yellow Koji mold, is able to safely produce large amounts of valuable enzymes and metabolites and has been historically used in fermentation and brewing industries, typically in Japan [1,2,3]
Analysis at the tip region demonstrated that the apical recycling of enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP)-AoSnc1 was defective in Aoend4-repressed hyphae. These results suggest that endocytosis is crucial for apical growth and recycling of certain components required for vesicular trafficking [89]
Due to the great ability of valuable enzyme secretion, the molecular mechanisms of the secretory pathway were investigated in A. oryzae [1]
Summary
The filamentous fungus Aspergillus oryzae, known as the yellow Koji mold, is able to safely produce large amounts of valuable enzymes and metabolites and has been historically used in fermentation and brewing industries, typically in Japan [1,2,3]. Together with another yellow Koji mold Aspergillus sojae, the black Koji mold Aspergillus luchuensis and the white Koji mold Aspergillus luchuensis mut. Fluorescent protein-based cellular biological analysis has greatly advanced the understanding of molecular machinery, especially about the predominant apical secretion [1,5] Based on these findings, A. oryzae has been bred as a cell factory to produce valuable heterologous proteins and metabolites [7].
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