Biochemistry of microbial itaconic acid production

Abstract

Itaconic acid is an unsaturated dicarbonic acid which has a high potential as a biochemical building block, because it can be used as a monomer for the production of a plethora of products including resins, plastics, paints, and synthetic fibers. Some Aspergillus species, like A. itaconicus and A. terreus, show the ability to synthesize this organic acid and A. terreus can secrete significant amounts to the media (>80 g/L). However, compared with the citric acid production process (titers >200 g/L) the achieved titers are still low and the overall process is expensive because purified substrates are required for optimal productivity. Itaconate is formed by the enzymatic activity of a cis-aconitate decarboxylase (CadA) encoded by the cadA gene in A. terreus. Cloning of the cadA gene into the citric acid producing fungus A. niger showed that it is possible to produce itaconic acid also in a different host organism. This review will describe the current status and recent advances in the understanding of the molecular processes leading to the biotechnological production of itaconic acid.

Itaconic Acid: The Surprising Role of an Industrial Compound as a Mammalian Antimicrobial Metabolite

“…However, the exact transport mechanism is still unknown, and it is possible that other carrier systems are involved in cis-aconitic acid translocation (42). To this end, a putative mitochondrial carrier protein that is encoded by a gene located directly upstream of the cadA gene was identified, supporting the likelihood that this carrier protein is indeed involved in cis-aconitic acid shuttling into the cytosol (88).…”

“…Finally, a secretion mechanism for itaconic acid is required because A. terreus accumulates itaconic acid in the extracellular environment (88). However, potential transporters involved are not yet known.…”

“…The chemical structure of itaconic acid, with its reactive methylene group, enables a self-polymerization to polyitaconic acid (88). Therefore, itaconic acid is industrially used as a precursor for plastic polymer synthesis as well as for resins, lattices, and fibers (for reviews, see 26,72,106).…”

Aproveitamento da glicerina de biodiesel obtida a partir de óleo de fritura para o cultivo do fungo Aspergillus niger

“…É conhecido que A. niger, pelo seu desenvolvimento em meio apropriado, leva à formação de vários ácidos orgânicos, a depender das condições de cultivo (LIGUORI; AMORE; FARACO, 2013;STEIGER et al, 2013). A formação de ácido oxá-lico já foi observada em meio contendo glicerina de biodiesel obtida a partir de óleos comerciais (ANDRÉ et al, 2010).…”

Integrated Approaches for Assessment of Cellular Performance in Industrially Relevant Filamentous Fungi

“…The broad application of filamentous fungi in industry covers biochemicals, proteins, and pharmaceuticals. [14][15][16][17][18] Examples include the citric acid production process using A. niger and penicillin production using P. chrysogenum, in which incremental improvements and new insights have been documented over many decades. 15,[19][20][21][22][23][24] The characterization of filamentous fungal hosts for expression of proteins also dominates the literature, and this field has been thoroughly reviewed in recent years.…”