Solid-state fermentation of corn stover by Trichoderma longibrachiatum

This study aims to investigate the transcriptional responses of Trichoderma longibrachiatum RTL-07 to different nitrogen sources during solid-state fermentation of corn stover. We compared two nitrogen conditions: organic nitrogen (peptone, designated as CS_ON) and inorganic nitrogen (ammonium sulfate, designated as CS_IN). Both nitrogen sources were supplemented at equivalent nitrogen content (0.84%) based on dry substrate mass. All other fermentation parameters were maintained constant across treatments: initial pH 5.5, moisture content 65%, temperature 30 degrees Celsius, and incubation period of 96 hours. For each treatment, three independent biological replicates were prepared. At the end of the fermentation period, samples were immediately harvested and flash-frozen in liquid nitrogen for subsequent RNA extraction and transcriptomic analysis to elucidate nitrogen-responsive gene expression patterns in T. longibrachiatum during biomass degradation.