The synergetic effects of two CCAAT boxes in Aspergillus niger glaA gene promoter on activation of PglaA transcription

EMSA and footprinting analyses have revealed that the -489--414 bp and the -390--345 bp (designated DC and PC respectively) upstream of the Aspergillus niger T21 glaA gene were bound by one protein factor in the A. niger T21 whole cell extract. Both DC and PC contained CCAAT pentanucleotides. The functions of DC and PC in regulation of expression of glucoamylase (GLA) were studied. CCAAT pentanucleotides were replaced with CGTAA and the mutated DNA fragments DCm and PCm lost the binding activities of protein factors in vitro. In vivo when either DC or PC was mutated or the relative orientations between them were changed on the PglaA, the transcriptional activity of PglaA decreased to a basal level. Introduction of multi-copies of DC into the original site at the PglaA in A. niger T21 decreased the expression of endogenous GLA expression and the exogenous reporter E. coli uidA gene introduced under the PglaA promoter, while having no effect on the uidA gene under the control of PgpdA. EMSA revealed that the levels of the specific DNA-binding protein factors in the transformants maintained the same meaning that introduction of multi-copies of DC caused the titration effect. AnghapC gene was cloned from A. niger T21 cDNA and introduced into the DC multi-copied strains. The expression of AnghapC improved the expression of the endogenous GLA and the exogenous gene controlled by PglaA. These results showed that both the CCAAT pentanucleotides were necessary for DC and PC binding to the protein factors, and the simultaneous binding of DC and PC to the protein was necessary for promoting the transcriptional activity of PglaA. AngHapC was the specific positive trans-acting protein factor binding to DC. Copyright by Science in China Press 2004.