title: Physiological and molecular aspects of degradation of plant polysaccharides by fungi: what have we learned from Aspergillus?
abstract: Plant biomass is the most abundant and usable carbon source for many fungal species. Due to its diverse and complex structure, fungi need to produce a large range of enzymes to degrade these polysaccharides into monomeric components. The fine-tuned production of such diverse enzyme sets requires control through a set of transcriptional regulators. Aspergillus has a strong potential for degrading biomass, thus this genus has become the most widely studied group of filamentous fungi in this area. This review examines Aspergillus as a successful degrader of plant polysaccharides, and reviews its potential in many industries such as biofuel and as a production host of homologous and heterologous proteins.
authors.affiliation: CBS-KNAW Fungal Biodiversity Center, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Helena
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Culleton
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: McKie
authors.forename: Ronald P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: de Vries
mesh_terms: D001230:Aspergillus / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D056804:Biofuels; D018533:Biomass; D001709:Biotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015966:Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal; D006026:Glycoside Hydrolases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D010944:Plants / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000382:microbiology*; D011134:Polysaccharides / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D056804:Biofuels; D005656:Fungal Proteins; D011134:Polysaccharides; D006026:Glycoside Hydrolases
keywords: Aspergillus; Carbohydrate active enzymes (CAZys); Enzyme production; Gene regulation; Plant polysaccharides