Abstract
Penicillin biosynthesis by Penicillium chrysogenum is one of the best-characterized biological processes from the genetic, molecular, biochemical, and subcellular points of view. Several omics studies have been carried out in this filamentous fungus during the last decade, which have contributed to gathering a deep knowledge about the molecular mechanisms underlying improved productivity in industrial strains. The information provided by these studies is extremely useful for enhancing the production of penicillin or other bioactive secondary metabolites by means of Biotechnology or Synthetic Biology.
Highlights
There are few examples of industrial microbial processes as deeply characterized as penicillin production by the filamentous fungus Penicillium chrysogenum
Transcriptomics data from the ∆PcvelA strain indicated that the expression of about 50% of all secondary metabolite clusters, including β-lactam biosynthesis genes, is controlled by Velvet, with roughly half of the differentially expressed clusters being up- or down-regulated, suggesting that this regulator plays both a positive and a negative role in the expression of secondary metabolism gene clusters [61]
Several modifications were observed in different metabolic pathways, including the carbohydrate metabolic process, redox metabolism, amino acid, and nucleoside metabolic processes and penicillin biosynthesis. These results suggest that the industrial process might provide a friendly environment for amino acid metabolism to enhance the penicillin-precursor production
Summary
There are few examples of industrial microbial processes as deeply characterized as penicillin production by the filamentous fungus Penicillium chrysogenum. Different companies applied strain improvement programs to ancestor lines of P. chrysogenum through classical mutagenesis and selection, giving rise to the current industrial strains. Companies applied strain improvement programs to ancestor lines of P. chrysogenum through classical mutagenesis and selection, giving rise to the current industrial strains. The advances in biochemistry, molecular biology, and genetics have allowed the biochemical genetic characterization of the penicillin biosynthetic pathway, which is compartmentalized between and genetic characterization of the penicillin biosynthetic pathway, which is compartmentalized cytosol and microbodies [4,7] (Figure 1).
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