title: Expression of three isoprenoid biosynthesis genes and their effects on the carotenoid production of the zygomycete Mucor circinelloides.
abstract: The zygomycete Mucor circinelloides accumulates β-carotene as the main carotenoid compound. In this study, the applicability of some early genes of the general isoprenoid pathway to improve the carotenoid production in this fungus was examined. The isopentenyl pyrophosphate isomerase gene (ipi) was cloned and used together with the genes encoding farnesyl pyrophosphate synthase (isoA) and geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate synthase (carG) in overexpression studies. Transformation experiments showed that the first bottleneck in the pathway, from the aspect of carotenoid production, is the step controlled by the carG gene, but overexpression of the ipi and isoA genes also contributes to the availability of the precursors. Transformations with these isoprenoid genes in combination with a bacterial β-carotene ketolase gene yielded Mucor strains producing canthaxanthin and echinenone.
authors: Department of Microbiology, University of Szeged, Közép fasor, Szeged, Hungary.
authors: Arpád
authors: A
authors: Csernetics
authors: Gábor
authors: G
authors: Nagy
authors: Enrique A
authors: EA
authors: Iturriaga
authors: András
authors: A
authors: Szekeres
authors: Arturo P
authors: AP
authors: Eslava
authors: Csaba
authors: C
authors: Vágvölgyi
authors: Tamás
authors: T
authors: Papp
mesh_terms: D053898:Biosynthetic Pathways / Q000235:genetics*; D019748:Carbon-Carbon Double Bond Isomerases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D002338:Carotenoids / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004271:DNA, Fungal / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D015870:Gene Expression; D005800:Genes, Fungal; D051232:Geranylgeranyl-Diphosphate Geranylgeranyltransferase / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D051228:Geranyltranstransferase / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D045782:Hemiterpenes; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009089:Mucor / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D004271:DNA, Fungal; D045782:Hemiterpenes; D002338:Carotenoids; D051228:Geranyltranstransferase; D051232:Geranylgeranyl-Diphosphate Geranylgeranyltransferase; D019748:Carbon-Carbon Double Bond Isomerases; C021453:isopentenyldiphosphate delta-isomerase