Genetic transformation of extremophilic fungi Acidea extrema and Acidothrix acidophila

0452244 - MBÚ 2016 RIV CZ eng J - Journal Article
Hršelová, Hana - Hujslová, Martina - Gryndler, Milan
Genetic transformation of extremophilic fungi Acidea extrema and Acidothrix acidophila.
Folia Microbiologica. Roč. 60, č. 4 (2015), s. 365-371. ISSN 0015-5632. E-ISSN 1874-9356
R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GAP504/11/0484
Institutional support: RVO:61388971
Keywords : TUMEFACIENS-MEDIATED TRANSFORMATION * AGROBACTERIUM-TUMEFACIENS * FILAMENTOUS FUNGI
Subject RIV: EE - Microbiology, Virology
Impact factor: 1.335, year: 2015

Intact, growing cells of strongly acidophilic fungi Acidea extrema and Acidothrix acidophila have been successfully transformed by introduction of heterologous DNA fragment (composed of the glyceraldehyde-phosphate-dehydrogenase gene promoter from Emericella nidulans, a metallothionein-coding gene AsMt1 from Amanita strobiliformis and glyceraldehyde-phosphate-dehydrogenase gene terminator from Colletotrichum gloeosporioides) with the length of 1690 bp. The transformation procedure was based on the DNA transfer mediated by Agrobacterium tumefaciens bearing disarmed helper plasmid pMP90 and binary vector pCambia1300 with inserted DNA fragment of interest. The transformants proved to be mitotically stable, and the introduced gene was expressed at least at the level of transcription. Our work confirms that metabolic adaptations of strongly acidophilic fungi do not represent an obstacle for genetic transformation using conventional methods and can be potentially used for production of heterologous proteins. A promising role of the fast growing A. acidophila as active biomass in biotechnological processes is suggested not only by the low susceptibility of the culture grown at low pH to contaminations but also by reduced risk of accidental leaks of genetically modified microorganisms into the environment because highly specialized extremophilic fungi can poorly compete with common microflora under moderate conditions.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0253316