Analysis of Extracellular Vesicles Produced by Koji - Exploring Their Relationship with Secreted Enzymes -

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K05823
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 38030:Applied biochemistry-related
• Research Institution: University of Tsukuba
• Principal Investigator: Urayama Syun-ichi 筑波大学, 生命環境系, 助教 (50736220)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 竹下 典男 筑波大学, 生命環境系, 准教授 (20745038) ; 豊福 雅典 筑波大学, 生命環境系, 准教授 (30644827)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 細胞外膜小胞 / 糸状菌 / 発酵

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Extracellular membrane vesicle (eMV), which are produced released from cellular organisms, are now recognized as a new mechanism for extracellular transport of biological molecules. Although eMV production has been reported in filamentous fungi, there are few studies on fermentative fungi used for food production. In this study, we collected basic knowledge on eMV production by fermentative fungi. Specifically, we found that (1) almost all filamentous fungi produce eMV in the late stage of liquid culture, while some one also release eMV in the early stage of culture, (2) there are two major proteins common to several species of eMV obtained from late stage, and (3) almost no degradation enzymes involved in fermentation are found in eMV.

Free Research Field

微生物生態学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究は発酵菌を主要な対象としつつも、多数の糸状菌種を用いることで糸状菌において普遍的なeMV産生関連の知見を蓄積することができた。特に、高度に精製したeMVを用いた点や、経時的なeMV産生状況の調査により、従来の糸状菌eMV研究では明らかでなかったeMV産生タイミングや普遍的な主要タンパク質の存在を明らかにすることができた。これらの知見は、麹菌などの家畜菌が有用な性質を示す機構の解明や、発酵食品中に含まれるeMVの機能解明や有効利用へとつながる足掛かりになると考えられる。