The decarboxylation of the weak-acid preservative, sorbic acid, is encoded by linked genes in Aspergillus spp

• Published in: Fungal genetics and biology Vol. 47; no. 8; pp. 683 - 692
• Main Authors: Plumridge, Andrew, Melin, Petter, Stratford, Malcolm, Novodvorska, Michaela, Shunburne, Lee, Dyer, Paul S., Roubos, Johannes A., Menke, Hildegard, Stark, Jacques, Stam, Hein, Archer, David B.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01-08-2010
• Subjects: 1,3-Pentadiene; Alkadienes - metabolism; Amino Acid Sequence; Antifungal Agents - metabolism; Ascomycetes; Aspergillus; Aspergillus niger - metabolism; Bioinformatics; Carboxy-Lyases - genetics; Cinnamic acid; Conidia; Decarboxylation; Food Science; Fungal Proteins - genetics; Gene Order; Gene regulation; Genes, Fungal; Germination; Livsmedelsvetenskap; Metabolic Networks and Pathways - genetics; Microbial Sensitivity Tests; Molecular Sequence Data; Multigene Family; Parabens - metabolism; Pentanes - metabolism; Saccharomyces; Sequence Alignment; Sorbic acid; Sorbic Acid - metabolism; Styrene; Synteny; Transcription Factors - genetics; Aspergillus; Decarboxylation; Cinnamic acid; Gene regulation; Germination; Styrene; 1,3-Pentadiene; Saccharomyces; Sorbic acid; Conidia
• ISSN: 1087-1845; 1096-0937; 1096-0937
• DOI: 10.1016/j.fgb.2010.04.011

The ability to resist anti-microbial compounds is of key evolutionary benefit to microorganisms.
Aspergillus niger has previously been shown to require the activity of a phenylacrylic acid decarboxylase (encoded by
padA1) for the decarboxylation of the weak-acid preservative sorbic acid (2,4-hexadienoic acid) to 1,3-pentadiene. It is now shown that this decarboxylation process also requires the activity of a putative 4-hydroxybenzoic acid (3-octaprenyl-4-hydroxybenzoic acid) decarboxylase, encoded by a gene termed
ohbA1, and a putative transcription factor, sorbic acid decarboxylase regulator, encoded by
sdrA. The
padA1,
ohbA1 and
sdrA genes are in close proximity to each other on chromosome 6 in the
A. niger genome and further bioinformatic analysis revealed conserved synteny at this locus in several
Aspergillus species and other ascomycete fungi indicating clustering of metabolic function. This cluster is absent from the genomes of
A. fumigatus and
A. clavatus and, as a consequence, neither species is capable of decarboxylating sorbic acid.