Functional characterization and overexpression of potential cellobiose and xylose transporters in Trichoderma reesei during cellulase production

• Grant number: 22/14399-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: August 01, 2023
• Status: Discontinued
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Microbiology - Biology and Physiology of Microorganisms
• Principal Investigator: Roberto do Nascimento Silva
• Grantee: Lucas Matheus Soares Pereira
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto (FMRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 19/11655-4 - Functional studies of gene regulatory networks in Trichoderma reesei during the cellulases formation, AP.TEM
• Associated scholarship(s): 24/11106-9 - Functional and kinetics characterization of sugar transporters in Trichoderma reesei involved in cellulase production, BE.EP.DR

Abstract

The fungus Trichoderma reesei is capable of producing and expressing several cellulases and hemicellulases involved in the degradation of lignocellulosic biomass, however, to make the saccharification process and consequently to obtain ethanol economically viable, it is necessary to optimize the production of these enzymes. The filamentous fungal transporters are important for regulating the expression of genes that encode CAZymes, playing a role both in the transport of the main holocellulase inducers, as well as in the signaling of these molecules. Therefore, the following project proposes the overexpression of the Tr79202 lactose transporter, involved in the production of holocellulases, in order to obtain a mutant with greater production of these enzymes and the functional characterization in T. reesei of the Tr44175 transporter, identified in RNA analysis -seq and proteomics and previously characterized in yeast by our research group, being able to transport cellobiose and sophorose. In order to better understand the mechanism by which the induction of holocellulases occurs by sophorosis, the most potent inducer of T. reesei, the deletion of the genes that encode the transporters of sophorosis: Tr44175 and Crt1 and global analysis of the transcriptome of the mutants will be carried out. From the results obtained, a model related to the role of these transporters in the metabolism of different carbon sources will be built, allowing a better understanding of the behavior of the holocellulolytic enzymes produced by T. reesei and contributing to the application of this fungus in the bioethanol industry. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

PEREIRA, LUCAS MATHEUS SOARES; TAVEIRA, IASMIN CARTAXO; MAUES, DAVID BATISTA; DE PAULA, RENATO GRACIANO; SILVA, ROBERTO N.. Advances in fungal sugar transporters: unlocking the potential of second-generation bioethanol production. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, v. 109, n. 1, p. 21-pg., 2025-01-01. (22/01751-9, 19/11655-4, 22/14399-1)