A Glucose-Derepressed Promoter for Expression of Heterologous Products in the Filamentous Fungus Aspergillus nidulans

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Abstract
We describe a putative binding sequence (GCGGGGC) for the glucose-responsive repressor protein CreA at two positions upstream of the transcription start site of the alcohol dehydrogenase I (alcA) gene of Aspergillus nidulans. To positively identify the putative binding sites as CreA-specific, the GCGGGGC blocks were mutated at five internal nucleotide positions to GTACTAC and reintroduced into the wild type alcA promoter driving expression of the endogenous alcohol dehydrogenase I gene. This CreA-binding site variant was then transformed into an AlcR constitutive A. nidulans host strain (T2625) and growth was monitored in the presence of the non-metabolized glucose analogue, 2-deoxyglucose. Positive transformants were selected by their ability to grow using ethanol as a carbon source in the presence of 2-deoxyglucose. Similar CreA binding site variant alcA promoters should permit the alcA-driven expression of heterologous genes in A. nidulans in the presence of glucose, the preferred carbon source for biomass accumulation and provides a model for controlling carbon-catabolite regulated expression in other expression systems.