EXPRESSION OF FUNGAL GENES INVOLVED IN PENICILLIN BIOSYNTHESIS

Carbon catabolite repression and pH regulation are regulatory circuits with a wide domain of action in the Plectomycetes. Penicillin biosynt hesis is one of the pathways which are under their control. The conclu sions obtained so far, which are based on studies of the genetic and m olecular regulation of the penicillin pathway of Aspergillus nidulans, would have been much harder to produce using an organism such as Peni cillium chrysogenum (the industrial penicillin producer). However, A. nidulans and P. chrysogenum are close in terms of their phylogeny and one can reasonably predict that the conclusions about A. nidulans, whi ch are summarized in this review and which are of unquestionable biote chnological relevance, will be extrapolable to the industrial organism .