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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, March 2006, p. 2126-2133, Vol. 72, No. 3
0099-2240/06/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/AEM.72.3.2126-2133.2006
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Research Area of Gene Technology and Applied Biochemistry, Institute of Chemical Engineering, Vienna University of Technology, Getreidemarkt 9-1665, A-1060 Vienna, Austria
Received 1 September 2005/ Accepted 5 January 2006
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-aminobutyrate, adonitol, and 2-ketogluconate; and positively correlated with that on D-sorbitol and saccharic acid. The reproducibility, relative simplicity, and high resolution (±10% of increase in mycelial density) of the phenotypic microarrays make them a useful tool for the characterization of mutant and transformed strains and for a global analysis of gene function. |
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The Biolog Phenotype MicroArray (PM) approach (2, 3) is a high throughput system for the identification of carbon sources and other nutrients used for the growth of various microorganisms (2, 3, 15, 27). Biolog PM has general utility for characterizing fungal metabolism (15, 27), but the consistency of the inferred phenotypes in different strains from the same species, mutants, and genetically altered isolates relative to their parental strains often is unknown. We are interested in metabolic engineering of the ascomycete Hypocrea jecorina (Trichoderma reesei) to increase the production of cellulase and other extracellular enzymes. The genome sequence of this fungus is now available (http://gsphere.lanl.gov/trire1/trire1 .home.html), as are cDNA sequences from mycelia grown on glucose or under cellulase-inducing conditions (5, 7, 10, 24). However, knowledge of the genome-wide similarity of physiological profiles in various transformed strains and mutants often is needed to meaningfully interpret the gene expression data.
The objective of the present study was to investigate the global carbon metabolism of H. jecorina per se and to compare it to genetically modified strains obtained after classical mutagenesis or DNA-mediated transformation. We wanted to know (i) if various wild-type isolates differed in growth on individual carbon sources, (ii) whether most of the known H. jecorina mutants used for cellulase research have similar growth rates on individual carbon sources, and (iii) whether DNA-mediated transformation generally alters growth patterns. These data will provide the baseline for PM analysis of global investigations of the physiological effects of knockouts of metabolic and regulatory genes in H. jecorina.
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TABLE 1. Wild-type and mutant strains of Hypocrea jecorina used in this study
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For Southern analyses, DNA was digested to completion with either PstI or EcoRI (each has a single restriction site in the hph gene) and hybridized to a 1.0-kb NsiI/XbaI fragment of hph that does not include any of the H. jecorina homologous, i.e., promoter or terminator, sequences. The number of copies was calculated from the number of bands resulting from different loci of integration and from signal intensities resulting from concatemerization of the cassette. The intensity of the hph fragment bands was quantified densitometrically with the GS-800 Calibrated Densitometer (Bio-Rad, Fremont, CA) after different exposure times. Controls with strains that lacked hph were included.
Biolog Phenotype MicroArray technique.
Global carbon assimilation profiles were evaluated by using Biolog FF MicroPlate (Biolog, Inc., Hayward, CA). The FF MicroPlate test panel contains 95 wells, each with a different carbon-containing compound(s), and one well with water.
H. jecorina strains were grown on 2% (wt/vol) malt extract agar under ambient laboratory conditions with diffuse daylight at 25°C. The inoculum was prepared after conidial maturation (2 to 3 days) by rolling a sterile, wetted cotton swab over conidiating areas. Conidia were suspended in 16 ml of sterile phytagel (0.25% Phytagel, 0.03% Tween 40) in disposable borosilicate test tubes (20 by 150 mm). The spore suspension was mixed in a vortex mixer for 5 s and adjusted to an A590 of 75% ± 2%. Then, 90 µl of the conidial suspension was dispensed into each test well. Microplates were incubated in the dark at 30°C, and the A750 was used to measure mycelial growth at 12, 18, 24, 36, 42, 48, 66, and 72 h. Each strain was analyzed in at least three independent experiments using separately prepared inocula.
For analysis of the uridine auxotrophic strain H. jecorina TU-6 (11), media also were supplemented with 10 mM uridine.
Statistical analysis.
Data from all experiments were combined in a single matrix and analyzed with the STATISTICA 6.1 (StatSoft, Inc., Tulsa, OK) software package. All data were subjected to descriptive statistical evaluations (mean, minimum, maximum, and standard deviation values) and checked for outliers. Conditions resulting in outliers were reevaluated, and the outlier value was replaced in the analysis if the repeat assay was concordant with the results from the other assays.
Cluster analysis (13, 29) was used to detect groups in the data set. This method was used to group carbon sources utilized by a particular strain, to identify strains with similar utilization profiles of particular carbon source(s), and to simultaneously group both carbon sources and strains in a two-way joining analysis. In most cases, the cluster-joining analysis was made with Euclidian distance and complete linkage as the amalgamation rule, i.e., distances between clusters were determined by the greatest distance between any two objects in the different clusters.
We used a discrete counter plot, which is a graphical representation of two-way joining results, to obtain a carbon utilization map based on A750 at 48 h. The algorithm for this analysis as implemented in STATISTICA 6.1 is limited to 50 cases, so we analyzed the data as four independent matrixes, with the contents of each matrix corresponding to the main groups of carbon sources. To combine the outcomes in a single plot, each of the four data sets was normalized by including values for maximum and minimum carbon source utilization (QM 6a mycelial production on
-aminobutyrate and glucuronamide, respectively). In the merged carbon source utilization map, each datum point is represented as a color-coded rectangular region. The carbon source order remained intact, but the position of strains on the combined map was manually modified according to the nature of strains that most closely related strains (e.g., parental strain and mutants derived from it) were located by the side of each other. One-way or main-effect analyses of variance (ANOVAs) were used to compare the growth of selected strains on individual carbon sources. Tukey's honest significant difference (Tukey HSD) test as implemented in STATISTICA 6.1 was used for post hoc comparisons to detect the contribution of each variable to the main effect of the F test resulting from the ANOVA. The summed data matrixes also were evaluated following factor analysis and multidimensional scaling to detect additional relationships between variables.
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The reproducibility of the PM results was tested for all 11 strains (Table 1) individually. No significant differences were detected in the main-effect ANOVA between independent experiments. The total number of measurements obtained for three parallel plates for each strain, i.e., 95 carbon sources and water, at eight different time points, were subjected to cluster analyses. The A750 value for each time point (averaged over all carbon sources) usually grouped together in the three parallel experiments, with only very short linkage distances between values from different plates. The detected three larger clusters correspond to (i) spore germination (12, 18, and 24 h), (ii) growth (36, 42, and 48 h), and (iii) transition to idiophase and/or sporulation (66 and 72 h). In the latter case, the statistical distances between the time points were equal to the differences between the plates, thus providing an additional indicator of either sporulation or the cessation of growth on the third day of incubation. For most of the subsequent analyses we used only turbidity values between 12 and 48 h for the characterization of mycelial growth and to compare strains under investigation. These results also indicate that the data are highly reproducible.
Carbon source utilization profile of the H. jecorina ex-type strain QM 6a.
Growth of this strain on 95 carbon sources and water varied (Fig. 1). Cluster I contained the carbon sources that enabled the fastest growth and included several monosaccharides, oligosaccharides, the polyols (D-arabinitol and erythritol), and
-aminobutyric acid. Cluster II contained the carbon sources that enabled good growth, but the turbidity increases were almost linear and reached only about half of the biomass densities of the compounds in Cluster I (Fig. 2). Cluster II also included the primary amino acids (L-alanine, L-aspartic acid, and L-glutamic acid) and some carbohydrates and polyols. Growth on Tween 80 (polyoxyethylensorbitan monooleate) and D-sorbitol was similar, suggesting that the D-sorbitol moiety in Tween 80 was used preferentially over the oleic acid component. The third cluster (III) contained many rare sugars, sugar acids, organic acids, and amino acids, all of which enabled only slow growth. Utilization of these carbon sources was still incomplete at 48 h (Fig. 2). The water control case grouped within these carbon sources, with the growth observed presumably resulting from the catabolism of the phytagel spore carrier (Phytagel is a bacterial heteropolysaccharide composed of glucuronic acid, rhamnose, and glucose) and/or the utilization of the nutrient reserves within the spores. It is thus doubtful whether the detected slow mycelial development on the other carbon sources of cluster IV is due to utilization of them or due to the same processes as growth on water. Two of the members of cluster IVD-lactic acid methyl ester and glucuronamidesupported significantly less growth than that observed in the water control (ANOVA, post hoc Tukey HSD test, P = 0.012 and P = 0.004, respectively).
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FIG. 1. (Right side) Utilization of carbon sources by H. jecorina QM 6a (solid line) and the two early cellulase mutants QM 9123 (triangles) and QM 9414 (black circles). The order of the carbon sources is the rank of the growth on 95 carbon sources and water, based on the A750 value at 48 h for strain QM 6a. Standard deviations are given by error bars. (Left side) Joining cluster analysis applied to carbon sources based on their profiles at 12, 18, 24, 36, 42, and 48 h. Numbers on this side are the same as those on the right side and indicate the compound.
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FIG. 2. Growth curves of carbon sources belonging to clusters I to IV in Fig. 1. A single line corresponds to one carbon source.
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-aminobutyric acidwas significantly slower for both mutants and was negatively correlated with cellulase formation (Fig. 3). Growth by the cellulase-overproducing strains on D-sorbitol and D-saccharic acid was significantly higher than for the wild-type strains. The increase in turbidity of strain QM 9123 on
-aminobutyric acid at 72 h (Fig. 3B) was due to the onset of sporulation, which increased A750 in a manner not proportional to the biomass increase. This effect also was observed for strain QM 6a but not for strain QM 9414.
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FIG. 3. Growth of H. jecorina QM 6a (), QM 9123 ( ), and QM 9414 ( ) on carbon sources, for which statistically significant differences among them were detected. (A) Adonitol; (B) 2-keto-D-gluconic acid; (C) -aminobutyric acid; (D) salicin; (E) sorbitol; (F) saccharic acid. Standard deviations are given by vertical bars. Values with different letters are significantly different (ANOVA, post hoc Tukey HSD test, P < 0.05).
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FIG. 4. Utilization of 95 carbon sources by various wild isolates of H. jecorina. The order of carbon sources corresponds to that in Fig. 1 (H. jecorina QM 6a). The strains used were G.J.S 85-236 ( ), TUB F-1034 ( ), TUB F-430 ( ), TUB F-733 ( ), CBS 836.91 ( ), and TUB F-1066 ( ). Standard deviations are given by bars. The light gray background corresponds to the variability seen in the early cellulase mutants, taken from Fig. 1.
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FIG. 5. Summed map of global carbon utilization profiles of the ex-type QM 6a strain of H. jecorina, cellulase-negative mutant strain QM 9978; uridine auxotrophic (pyr4) mutant TU-6; early cellulase mutant QM 9414; and two triplets of hygromycin B-resistant transformants (the number of integrated copies is given in roman numerals). The map was composed after several two-way joining cluster analyses applied to carbon sources (i) and fungal strains (ii) as two groups of variables. For the pedigrees and relationships of the strains, see Table 1. Due to the low variability in carbon sources from clusters III and IV, only carbon sources from clusters I and II are shown; the respective growth (A750 after 48 h) is given by a corresponding color as indicated in the color scale.
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Carbon utilization patterns in transformants.
A site-directed integration/transformation system is not available for H. jecorina. Instead, DNA integration usually occurs at ectopic sites, and incidental epistatic effects associated with the transformation process or the ectopic integration event could remain undetected. Triplets of transformant strains derived from either QM 9414 and QM 9978 were evaluated (Fig. 5). When strains with different numbers of DNA insertions were compared, the number of heterologous gene copies was not correlated with alterations in carbon utilization pattern. Even single-copy integration events could result in significant changes in the carbon utilization profile. Relative to the parental strain, all three QM 9414 transformant mutants grew poorly, e.g., on maltotriose, dextrin, erythritol, D-galactose, lactose and arbutin (48 h, ANOVA, post hoc Tukey HSD test, P < 0.01). The three QM 9978 transformant strains had carbon utilization patterns that differed both from the parental strain and from each other. After 48 h of incubation, transformant CPK 1028 utilized xylitol, L-arabinose, D-ribose, and erythritol (ANOVA, post hoc Tukey HSD test, P < 0.05) and D-galactose (ANOVA, post hoc Tukey HSD test, P < 0.0001) at significantly increased rates but maltose at a significantly decreased rate (ANOVA, post hoc Tukey HSD test, P < 0.001). The two other transformants of QM 9978 (CPK 1027 and CPK 1029) did not use any of carbon sources more effectively but were impaired in their ability to utilize xylitol and glycerol (Fig. 5). Thus, transformation to hygromycin B resistance can alter carbon utilization profiles of the resulting transformants in various different and sometimes contradictory ways.
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As part of a program to increase cellulase production, the ex-type QM 6a strain of H. jecorina has been exposed to various mutagens, including radiation from a linear accelerator (18, 22). The mutants recovered from this mutagenesis had up to fivefold more cellulolytic activity. Even so, the carbon source utilization profiles of these mutants were essentially unchanged. Increased cellulase formation was inversely correlated with growth on adonitol (ribitol), 2-ketogluconate, and
-aminobutyric acid, and directly correlated with growth on D-sorbitol and saccharic acid. We do not know whether these changes are causally related to cellulase formation. However,
-aminobutyric acid is a sporulation-specific metabolite in Trichoderma (26), and cellulase expression is triggered during conidiation (14). There also could be a link between D-sorbitol utilization and cellulase formation since D-sorbitol can be converted to L-sorbose by an NADP-dependent ketose reductase (23), and L-sorbose can induce cellulases in H. jecorina (19).
H. jecorina QM 9978, which is derived from QM 6a, cannot produce cellulases (16, 18, 28), although the nature of this alteration is not known (31). This mutant has a carbon utilization profile similar to that of its immediate parent, QM 9123, suggesting that the mutation in this strain has occurred in a gene specifically involved in cellulase expression.
H. jecorina strain TU-6 has a mutation at pyr4. TU-6 has a carbon utilization profile that generally is similar to that of its parental strain, although it grows better on a few carbon sources. These data may be interpreted to mean that growth on these carbon sources is limited in the wild-type parent by the endogenous production of uridine. This effect is comparable to the physiological differences between genetically and nutritionally complemented S. cerevisiae leu2 and ura3 mutants (4, 21) but, to the best of our knowledge, such an effect has not been reported previously for a filamentous fungus.
There is no targeted integration system, e.g., argB in A. nidulans (30), in H. jecorina. Unless selection occurs for a specific locus, e.g., gene disruption, DNA integration usually occurs at ectopic loci. Both the location of the ectopic integration and the number of copies of the foreign DNA integrated may be problematic. The introduction of several copies of a gene controlled by a strong promoter may titrate transcription factors away from other promoters. We used PM to evaluate H. jecorina transformants that differed in the number and location of copies of plasmid pRLMex30, which contains the hygromycin resistance marker under the control of the pki1 (pyruvate kinase) promoter (17). Variation between different transformants was due to the site of integration and not the number of copies integrated, since transformants with different numbers of integrated copies of the foreign DNA had similar profiles.
Irrespective of the manner in which mutants were induced, e.g., exposure to UV light or radioactivity or DNA-mediated transformation, the variation in carbon source utilization profile was limited to no more than a few carbon sources. Usually these were compounds in clusters I and II, e.g., the polyols xylitol, erythritol, and D-sorbitol; the aldoses D-ribose, D-galactose and L-arabinose; N-acetyl-D-glucosamine; and the oligosaccharides maltotriose and ß-methyl-glucoside that enabled good or better growth. Thus, our data demonstrate that indirect mutagenesis and transformation events alter central carbon metabolism in H. jecorina in similar manners. Desjardins et al. (6) also observed that Gibberella zeae can undergo spontaneous or transformation-induced mutations that significantly altered its virulence.
In summary, PM can give detailed and useful information on metabolic differences between strains of H. jecorina and can be used to physiologically evaluate mutants and gene interactions. The variation seen in transformant strains suggests that PM characterizations should be as much a part of a description of new transformants as are the Southern blots used to identify the location and number of the DNA copies incorporated into the genome.
We thank D. E. Eveleigh for providing us with some of the early cellulase mutant strains.
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