Collaborative Innovation Center of Reverse Microbial Etiology, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, College of Basic Medical Sciences, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, China.
Institute of Basic Medicine, Shandong First Medical University&Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Jinan, China.
Microb Biotechnol. 2022 Oct;15(10):2533-2546. doi: 10.1111/1751-7915.14103. Epub 2022 Aug 3.
Sorbicillinoids (also termed yellow pigment) are derived from either marine or terrestrial fungi, exhibit various biological activities and therefore show potential as commercial products for human or animal health. The cellulolytic filamentous fungus Trichoderma reesei is capable to biosynthesize sorbicillinoids, but the underlying regulatory mechanism is not yet completely clear. Herein, we identified a histone H3 lysine 9 (H3K9) methyltransferase, Dim5, in T. reesei. TrDIM5 deletion caused an impaired vegetative growth as well as conidiation, whereas the ∆Trdim5 strain displayed a remarkable increase in sorbicillinoid production. Post TrDIM5 deletion, the transcription of sorbicillinoid biosynthesis-related (SOR) genes was significantly upregulated with a more open chromatin structure. Intriguingly, hardly any expression changes occurred amongst those genes located on both flanks of the SOR gene cluster. In addition, the assays provided evidence that H3K9 triple methylation (H3K9me3) modification acted as a repressive marker at the SOR gene cluster and thus directly mediated the repression of sorbicillinoid biosynthesis. Transcription factor Ypr1 activated the SOR gene cluster by antagonizing TrDim5-mediated repression and therefore contributed to forming a relatively more open local chromatin environment, which further facilitated its binding and SOR gene expression. The results of this study will contribute to understanding the intricate regulatory network in sorbicillinoid biosynthesis and facilitate the endowment of T. reesei with preferred features for sorbicillinoid production by genetic engineering.
索布醇类(也称为黄色色素)来源于海洋或陆地真菌,具有多种生物活性,因此具有作为人类或动物健康的商业产品的潜力。纤维素分解丝状真菌里氏木霉能够生物合成索布醇类,但潜在的调控机制尚不完全清楚。本文中,我们鉴定了里氏木霉中的组蛋白 H3 赖氨酸 9(H3K9)甲基转移酶 Dim5。TrDIM5 缺失导致营养生长和产孢能力受损,而 ∆Trdim5 菌株的索布醇类产量显著增加。TrDIM5 缺失后,与索布醇类生物合成相关(SOR)基因的转录显著上调,且染色质结构更为开放。有趣的是,位于 SOR 基因簇两侧的基因几乎没有表达变化。此外,实验证据表明,H3K9 三甲基化(H3K9me3)修饰作为 SOR 基因簇的抑制性标记,直接介导了索布醇类生物合成的抑制。转录因子 Ypr1 通过拮抗 TrDim5 介导的抑制作用激活 SOR 基因簇,从而有助于形成相对更为开放的局部染色质环境,进一步促进其结合和 SOR 基因表达。本研究结果将有助于理解索布醇类生物合成中复杂的调控网络,并通过遗传工程赋予里氏木霉生产索布醇类的优良特性。