Chair of Applied and Molecular Microbiology, Institute of Biotechnology, Technische Universität Berlin, Straße des 17. Juni 135, 10623 Berlin, Germany.
Essays Biochem. 2021 Jul 26;65(2):213-224. doi: 10.1042/EBC20200139.
The filamentous ascomycete fungus Aspergillus niger is a prolific secretor of organic acids, proteins, enzymes and secondary metabolites. Throughout the last century, biotechnologists have developed A. niger into a multipurpose cell factory with a product portfolio worth billions of dollars each year. Recent technological advances, from genome editing to other molecular and omics tools, promise to revolutionize our understanding of A. niger biology, ultimately to increase efficiency of existing industrial applications or even to make entirely new products. However, various challenges to this biotechnological vision, many several decades old, still limit applications of this fungus. These include an inability to tightly control A. niger growth for optimal productivity, and a lack of high-throughput cultivation conditions for mutant screening. In this mini-review, we summarize the current state-of-the-art for A. niger biotechnology with special focus on organic acids (citric acid, malic acid, gluconic acid and itaconic acid), secreted proteins and secondary metabolites, and discuss how new technological developments can be applied to comprehensively address a variety of old and persistent challenges.
丝状子囊菌黑曲霉是一种高产有机酸、蛋白质、酶和次生代谢物的真菌。在上个世纪，生物技术人员将黑曲霉开发成了一个多功能的细胞工厂，每年的产品组合价值数十亿美元。近年来，从基因组编辑到其他分子和组学工具的技术进步，有望彻底改变我们对黑曲霉生物学的理解，最终提高现有工业应用的效率，甚至创造全新的产品。然而，这项生物技术愿景面临着各种挑战，其中许多挑战已经存在了几十年，仍然限制了这种真菌的应用。这些挑战包括无法紧密控制黑曲霉的生长以实现最佳生产力，以及缺乏高通量的培养条件来进行突变体筛选。在这篇迷你综述中，我们总结了黑曲霉生物技术的最新现状，特别关注有机酸（柠檬酸、苹果酸、葡萄糖酸和衣康酸）、分泌蛋白和次生代谢物，并讨论了新技术的发展如何可以应用于全面解决各种长期存在的旧挑战。
