Abstract
We investigated the differences in the gene expression of carbonic anhydrase (CA) and cysteine synthase (CysM) between two weathering conditions, with either soluble potassium or insoluble potassium. We cultured a strain of A. niger by adopting a variant Czapek medium (using Na2HPO4 as a substitute for K2HPO4) in two groups, Group A (containing silicate minerals bearing potassium but without KCl) and Group B (with KCl). We extracted the mRNAs of CA and CysM from these two groups and performed real-time quantitative polymerase chain reactions (RT-qPCR). We constructed relative standard curves by using glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) as the reference to confirm a consistent amplification efficiency of the target genes (CA and CysM) and the reference gene and quantified the gene expression of the targets in a relative manner. Our results showed that CA and CysM in Group A were upregulated for 1.7 times and 11.7 times, respectively, compared with those in Group B. Furthermore, we also analyzed some metabolic pathways and functions of the A. niger-induced weathering of potassium-bearing minerals, which involved the synthesizing of these two enzymes. Thus our work provides materials for further study of the roles of A. niger in the metabolic regulation during the weathering process of potassium-bearing minerals.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Basak B B, Biswas D R. 2009. Influence of potassium solubilizing microorganism (Bacillus mucilaginosus) and waste mica on potassium uptake dynamics by sudan grass (Sorghum vulgare Pers.) grown under two Alfisols. Plant Soil, 317: 235–255
Chen J, Yang J D, Li C L. 2001. The continental weathering and the global climatic change (in Chinese). Adv Earth Sci, 16: 399–405
Chen S, Liu C Q, Lian B. 2009. Effect of a strain of Aspergillus niger on weathering of phosphorite (in Chinese). Acta Minal Sin, 29: 103–107
Costa M, Borges C L, Bailao A M, et al. 2007. Transcriptome profiling of Paracoccidioides brasiliensis yeast-phase cells recovered from infected mice brings new insights into fungal response upon host interaction. Microbiology, 153: 4194–4207
Dancho D, Laurent L G, Richard D, et al. 2011. Direct access to new D-galactofuranoconjugates: Application to the synthesis of galactofuranosyl-L-cysteine and L-serine. Tetrahedron Lett, 52: 1121–1123
Deng Q H, Li M T, Xiang F, et al. 2010. Structure prediction of β carbonic anhydrase from Brassica napus (in Chinese). Biotech Bull, 1: 111–117
Du Y, Zhou X Y, Lian B. 2008. The extracellular secretion of Bacillus mucilaginosus and its capability of releasing potassium from potassium-bearing minerals (in Chinese). Earth Sci Front, 15: 107–111
Fredrickson J K, Zachara J M. 2008. Electron transfer at the microbe-mineral interface: A grand challenge in biogeochemistry. Geobiology, 6: 245–253
Gu H N, Wang N, Yang Y Q, et al. 2011. Research progress of preparing potash fertilizer with potassium-bearing minerals (in Chinese). Chem Ind Eng Pro (China), 30: 2450–2455
Guo Y M, Zheng P, Sun J B. 2010. Aspergillus niger as a potential cellular factory: Prior knowledge and key technology (in Chinese). Chin J Biotech, 26: 1410–1418
Hu J, Lian B, Yu J P, et al. 2011a. Formation of Aspergillus niger-mineral aggregation and characterization of polysaccharide from aggregation (in Chinese). Acta Microbiol Sin, 51: 756–763
Hu J, Yu J P, Lian B. 2011b. Capability and mechanism of potassium releasing from potassium-bearing minerals by Aspergillus niger (in Chinese). Bull Mineral Petrol Geochem, 30: 277–285
Kaur J, Bachhawat A K. 2007. Yct1p, a novel, high-affinity, cysteine specific transporter from the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Genetics, 176: 877–890
Lian B, Yuan D X, Liu Z H. 2011. Effect of microbes on karstification in karst ecosystems. Chin Sci Bull, 56: 3743–3747
Liu D F, Lian B, Wang B. 2011. Degradation of potassium rock by earthworms and responses of bacterial communities in its gut and surrounding substrates after being fed with mineral. PLoS ONE, 6: e28803
Liu Z H. 2001. The role of carbonic anhydrase as an activator in carbonate rock dissolution and its significance in atmospheric CO2 precipitation (in Chinese). Geosici Sin, 22: 477–480
Lu A H. 2005. New advances in the study of environmental mineralogical materials: Pollution treatment by inorganic minerals—the fourth category of pollution treatment methods (in Chinese). Earth Sci Front, 12: 195–205
Ma F, Zhang S, Shan D. 2008. Optimization of the medium composition for culturing of mycelia pellet of Aspergillus niger Y3 (in Chinese). China J Envir Sci, 28: 989–933
Ma H W, Su S Q, Liu H, et al. 2010. Potassium resource and sustainable development of potash salt industry in China (in Chinese). Earth Sci Front, 17: 294–310
Olsson F K, Van H R, Mergeay M, et al. 2010. Microarray analysis of a microbe-mineral interaction. Geobiology, 8: 446–456
Perez S, Royo L, Astudillo A, et al. 2007. Identifying the most suitable endogenous control for determining gene expression in hearts from organ donors. BMC Mol Biol, 8: 114
Qiao Q A, Cai Z T, Feng D C. 2004. Progress in the folate coenzyme participated reaction of one-carbon unit transfer (in Chinese). Prog Chem, 16: 785–790
Richier S, Kerros M E, Vargas C, et al. 2009. Light-dependent transcriptional regulation of genes of biogeochemical interest in the diploid and haploid life cycle stages of Emiliania huxleyi. Appl Eenviron Microb, 75: 3366–3369
Xiao B, Lian B, Sun L L, et al. 2012a. Gene transcription response to weathering of K-bearing minerals by Aspergillus fumigatus. Chem Geol, 306–307: 1–9
Xiao B, Lian B, Shao W L. 2012b. Do bacterial secreted proteins play a role in the weathering of potassium-bearing rock powder? Geomicrobiol J, 29: 497–505
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sun, L., Xiao, L., Xiao, B. et al. Differences in the gene expressive quantities of carbonic anhydrase and cysteine synthase in the weathering of potassium-bearing minerals by Aspergillus niger . Sci. China Earth Sci. 56, 2135–2140 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-013-4704-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-013-4704-4