2012 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
Attempts to discover a sexual cycle in koji mold Aspergillus oryzae
| Project/Area Number |
23658071
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
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| Allocation Type | Multi-year Fund |
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| Research Field |
Applied microbiology
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| Research Institution | The University of Tokyo |
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Principal Investigator |
MARUYAMA Jun-ichi 東京大学, 大学院・農学生命科学研究科, 助教 (00431833)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2011 – 2012
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| Keywords | 麹菌 / 有性世代 / 接合型 / 菌糸融合 / 菌核 |
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| Research Abstract |
The filamentous fungus Aspergillus oryzae has been long used in Japanese traditional food fermentation. As its sexual cycle has not been found, it is not possible to obtain industrially useful strains by cross breeding. In this study, we demonstrated the functionality of mating-type genes and re-discovered a hyphal fusion ability of A.oryzae for the first time in ~50 years. Promoting sclerotia production led to the formation of sexual spore-like structures. This study demonstrates the potential of A. oryzae for sexual reproduction.
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