The FlbA-regulated transcription factor FusR of Aspergillus niger is involved in production of fumonisin. Aspergillus niger

Colonies of Aspergillus niger secrete proteins throughout the colony except for the sporulating zone. Inactivation of flbA results in colonies that are unable to reproduce asexually and that secrete proteins throughout the mycelium. In addition, the ΔflbA strain shows cell lysis and has thinner cell walls. This pleiotropic phenotype is associated with differential expression of 38 transcription factor genes. Here, the impact of inactivation of one of these regulatory genes, fusR, was assessed. Mycelium of ΔfusR and its control strain MA234.1 was subjected to whole genome expression analysis, which revealed that 10 out of 15 genes of the fumonisin biosynthetic gene cluster were strongly downregulated in ΔfusR. Overall design: mRNA profiles from ΔfusR and the control strain MA234.1 were generated by Illumina Hiseq using duplicate samples from liquid shaken cultures.