GNPS - Experimental validation of a central carbon metabolic model in Aspergillus niger to enable metabolic engineering of a fungal cell factory

The influence of selected pentose catabolic pathway (PCP) deletion strains on growth of plant biomass and re-routing of sugar catabolism was addressed to gain a better understanding of the flexibility of the fungus Aspergillus niger in using plant biomass-derived monomers. The transcriptome, metabolome and proteome response of three PCP mutant strains grown on wheat bran (WB) and sugar beet pulp (SBP) were evaluated. Proteomics samples were digested with trypsin then analyzed by LC-MS/MS with fractionation. Metabolomics samples were derivitized using a modified Fiehn protocol and analyzed by GC-MS with FAME added for retention alignment. Proteomics data was searched with MS-GF+ using PNNL's DMS Processing pipeline.