Mucor circinelloides: Growth, Maintenance, and Genetic Manipulation

Mucor circinelloides Growth and Differentiation in the Fungus A Subunit of Protein Kinase A Regulates

A subunit of protein kinase a regulates growth and differentiation in the fungus Mucor circinelloides.

The cyclic AMP (cAMP)-dependent protein kinase A (PKA) signaling pathway plays a role in regulating development, growth, and virulence in a number of fungi. To determine whether PKA plays a similar function in zygomycete fungi, a mutant of Mucor circinelloides was generated that lacks pkaR1, one of the regulatory subunits of PKA. The mutant showed a reduction in growth and alterations in germin...

Antioxidants Potential of the Filamentous Fungi (Mucor circinelloides)

Three important strains of Mucorcircinelloides grown in complete and minimal media for specified period (72 h, 120 h and 168 h) under submerged fermentation conditions were investigated for their potential antioxidants/secondary metabolite production. All mycelial extracts demonstrated effective antioxidant activities in terms of β-carotene/linoleic acid bleaching, radical scavenging, reduction...

Sporangiospore Size Dimorphism Is Linked to Virulence of Mucor circinelloides

Mucor circinelloides is a zygomycete fungus and an emerging opportunistic pathogen in immunocompromised patients, especially transplant recipients and in some cases otherwise healthy individuals. We have discovered a novel example of size dimorphism linked to virulence. M. circinelloides is a heterothallic fungus: (+) sex allele encodes SexP and (-) sex allele SexM, both of which are HMG domain...

Stress Responses of Genetically Modified Mucor Circinelloides Strains

The stress-related responses of Mucor circinelloides transformants altered in carotenoid production have been investigated. In zygomycetous fungi β-carotene is the predominant carotenoid, however, in transformants containing the crtW and crtZ astaxanthin biosynthesis genes from Agrobacterium aurantiacum new carotenoid compounds are present. Mucor strains with altered carotenoid content were tre...