Regulation of Alternative Oxidase at the Transcription Stage in Aspergillus niger Under the Conditions of Citric Acid Production

Abstract

The citric acid-producing fungus Aspergillus niger WU-2223L possesses a cyanide-insensitive respiratory pathway catalyzed by alternative oxidase. The regulation of the alternative oxidase under the conditions of citric acid production was determined from the transcription level of the alternative oxidase gene (aox1). PCR and Southern blot analyses revealed that there is only one copy of aox1 on the chromosome of WU-2223L and no homologous gene of aox1. To confirm the regulation stage of alternative oxidase, alternative oxidase activities and aox1 transcription levels were measured under several cultivation conditions, including those for citric acid production. On each cultivation day, the changes in the specific activity of the alternative oxidase were found to be comparable to those in the transcription level of aox1. These results indicate that the activity of the alternative oxidase encoded by aox1 is regulated at the transcription stage under the conditions tested for A. niger WU-2223L.