Gjg. Ruijter et al., ISOLATION OF ASPERGILLUS-NIGER CREA MUTANTS AND EFFECTS OF THE MUTATIONS ON EXPRESSION OF ARABINASES AND L-ARABINOSE CATABOLIC ENZYMES, Microbiology, 143, 1997, pp. 2991-2998
Aspergillus niger mutants relieved of carbon repression were isolated
from an areA parental strain by selection of colonies that exhibited i
mproved growth on a combination of 4-aminobutanoic acid (GABA) and D-g
lucose. In addition to derepression of the utilization of GABA as a ni
trogen source in the presence of a-glucose, three of the four mutants
also showed derepression of L-alanine and L-proline utilization. Trans
formation of the mutants with the A. niger creA gene, encoding the rep
ressor protein CREA, re-established the areA phenotype on GABA/D-gluco
se, identifying the mutations as creA(d). The creA gene mapped on chro
mosome IV by linkage analysis and contour-clamped homogeneous electric
field hybridization. The creA mutants obtained were used to study the
involvement of CREA in repression by a-glucose of arabinases and L-ar
abinose catabolism in A. niger. In wild-type A. niger, alpha-L-arabino
furanosidase A, alpha-L-arabinofuranosidase B, endo-arabinase, L-arabi
nose reductase and L-arabitol dehydrogenase were induced on L-arabinos
e, but addition of a-glucose prevented this induction. Repression was
relieved to varying degrees in the creA mutants, showing that biosynth
esis of arabinases and L-arabinose catabolic enzymes is under control
of CREA.