Engineering the secretome of Aspergillus niger for cellooligosaccharides production from plant biomass.

Background: Fermentation of sugars derived from plant biomass feedstock is crucial for sustainability. Hence, utilizing customized enzymatic cocktails to obtain oligosaccharides instead of monomers is an alternative fermentation strategy to produce prebiotics, cosmetics, and biofuels. This study developed an engineered strain of Aspergillus niger producing a tailored cellulolytic cocktail capable of partially degrading sugarcane straw to yield cellooligosaccharides.

Morphological, cellular, and molecular basis of brain infection in COVID-19 patients.

Although increasing evidence confirms neuropsychiatric manifestations associated mainly with severe COVID-19 infection, long-term neuropsychiatric dysfunction (recently characterized as part of "long COVID-19" syndrome) has been frequently observed after mild infection. We show the spectrum of cerebral impact of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, ranging from long-term alterations in mildly infected individuals (orbitofrontal cortical atrophy, neurocognitive impairment, excessive fatigue and anxiety symptoms) to severe acute damage confirmed in brain tissue samples extracted from the orbitofrontal region (via endonasal transethmoidal access) from individuals who died of COVID-19. In an independent cohort of 26 individuals who died of COVID-19, we used histopathological signs of brain damage as a guide for possible SARS-CoV-2 brain infection and found that among the 5 individuals who exhibited those signs, all of them had genetic material of the virus in the brain.

Deletion of AA9 Lytic Polysaccharide Monooxygenases Impacts A. nidulans Secretome and Growth on Lignocellulose.

Lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases (LPMOs) are oxidative enzymes found in viruses, archaea, and bacteria as well as eukaryotes, such as fungi, algae and insects, actively contributing to the degradation of different polysaccharides. In Aspergillus nidulans, LPMOs from family AA9 (LPMO9s), along with an AA3 cellobiose dehydrogenase (CDH1), are cosecreted upon growth on crystalline cellulose and lignocellulosic substrates, indicating their role in the degradation of plant cell wall components. Functional analysis revealed that three target LPMO9s (LPMO9C, LPMO9F and LPMO9G) correspond to cellulose-active enzymes with distinct regioselectivity and activity on cellulose with different proportions of crystalline and amorphous regions.

Multi-omics analysis provides insights into lignocellulosic biomass degradation by Laetiporus sulphureus ATCC 52600.

Background: Wood-decay basidiomycetes are effective for the degradation of highly lignified and recalcitrant plant substrates. The degradation of lignocellulosic materials by brown-rot strains is carried out by carbohydrate-active enzymes and non-enzymatic Fenton mechanism. Differences in the lignocellulose catabolism among closely related brown rots are not completely understood.

Redesigning N-glycosylation sites in a GH3 β-xylosidase improves the enzymatic efficiency.

Background: β-Xylosidases are glycoside hydrolases (GHs) that cleave xylooligosaccharides and/or xylobiose into shorter oligosaccharides and xylose. is an established genetic model and good source of carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes). Most fungal enzymes are N-glycosylated, which influences their secretion, stability, activity, signalization, and protease protection.

Protein profile in Aspergillus nidulans recombinant strains overproducing heterologous enzymes.

Filamentous fungi are robust cell factories and have been used for the production of large quantities of industrially relevant enzymes. However, the production levels of heterologous proteins still need to be improved. Therefore, this article aimed to investigate the global proteome profiling of Aspergillus nidulans recombinant strains in order to understand the bottlenecks of heterologous enzymes production.