The Putative Transcription Factor Gene thaB Regulates Cellulase and Xylanase Production at the Enzymatic and Transcriptional Level in the Fungus Talaromyces cellulolyticus.

Talaromyces cellulolyticus is a promising strain for industrial cellulase production. In this study, the thaB gene, which is a homologue of the hap2/B gene in other filamentous fungi, was isolated and characterized. When grown in the presence of cellulose, culture supernatants of a thaB-disrupted strain (YDTha) exhibited decreased cellulase and xylanase enzymatic activities compared to the control strain. Furthermore, YDTha exhibited lower expression of the genes encoding cellulases and xylanases compared to the control strain. When cellobiose and lactose (soluble carbon sources) were used as carbon sources, the expression of the genes encoding cellulases and xylanases was decreased in both the YDTha and the control strains, though the expression levels in YDTha remained lower than those in the control strain. These results suggested that thaB has a positive role in cellulase and xylanase production in T. cellulolyticus.