Redesigning transcription factor Cre1 for alleviating carbon catabolite repression in Trichoderma reesei.

Carbon catabolite repression (CCR), which is mainly mediated by Cre1 and triggered by glucose, leads to a decrease in cellulase production in Trichoderma reesei. Many studies have focused on modifying Cre1 for alleviating CCR. Based on the homologous alignment of CreA from wild-type Penicillium oxalicum 114-2 (Po-0) and cellulase hyperproducer JUA10-1(Po-1), we constructed a C-terminus substitution strain-Po-2-with decreased transcriptional levels of cellulase and enhanced CCR. Results revealed that the C-terminal domain of CreAPo-1 plays an important role in alleviating CCR. Furthermore, we replaced the C-terminus of Cre1 with that of CreAPo-1 in T. reesei (Tr-0) and generated Tr-1. As a control, the C-terminus of Cre1 was truncated and Tr-2 was generated. The transcriptional profiles of these transformants revealed that the C-terminal chimera greatly improves cellulase transcription in the presence of glucose and thus upregulates cellulase in the presence of glucose and weakens CCR, consistent with truncating the C-terminus of Cre1 in Tr-0. Therefore, we propose constructing a C-terminal chimera as a new strategy to improve cellulase production and alleviate CCR in the presence of glucose.