drs. R. te Biesebeke : Protein Production of Fungus Improved by Genetic Modification


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29 Mar 2005 16:00

Unit: Wageningen University

Location: Aula (gebouw 362), Gen. Foulkesweg 1, Wageningen

Promotor: prof.dr. W.M. de Vos (Microbiology)

Co Promotor: prof.dr. C.A.M.J.J. van den Hondel (Universiteit Leiden/TNO Voeding, Zeist), dr. P.J. Punt

Filamentous fungi are used since ages for the production of fermented food products like cheese (Roquefort, camembert), soy sauce, alcoholic drinks (sake, wine) and function as miniature fabrics for the production of proteins. After purification, these proteins have an industrial application in for example fruit juices, beer, bread, yoghurt, pet food, but also in de paper, textile, and pharmaceutical industry. The research that is described in the thesis shows that during filamentous fungal growth, the fungal morphology is important for the protein production capacity. This capacity can be improved by genetic modification of the fungal morphology. With a heterologous macro-array analysis, a haemoglobin-encoding gene was identified. This was of particular interest because during growth on a solid substrate oxygen becomes often limited. The intracellular overproduction of the haemoglobin-domain resulted in a faster growth speed, a higher biomass production and a higher protein secretion capacity. These results suggest that protein production by filamentous fungi grown on solid substrates can be improved by modification of the morphology or by improvement of oxygen supply.

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