Penicillium

Chrysogenum

Penicillium Chrysogenum…

Kingdom Fungi

Division Ascomycota

Subdivision Pezizomycotina

Class Eurotiomycetes

Order Eurotiales

Family Trichocomaceae

Genus Penicillium

Species P.chrysogenum

Penicillium chrysogenum has rarely been reported as a cause of

human disease. It is the source of several β-lactam antibiotics,

most significantly penicillin. Other secondary metabolites of P.

chrysogenum include various penicillins , roquefortine C

, meleagrin , chrysogine , xanthocillins , secalonic

acids, sorrentanone , sorbicillin , and PR-toxin .

Some Penicillium species actually help prevent fungal decay as

opposed to producing it. Penicillium chrysogenum produces

glucose oxidase, which is used as a preservative in fruit juices.

One of the things Penicillium is most famous for is the drug

penicillin. It was used to create the first antibiotic. The

originial strain, Penicillium notatum, was discovered in 1920

by Sir Alexander Fleming. However, it was replaced

with Penicillium chrysogenum, a more productive species,

which is now the species used in manufacturing penicillin.

The airborne asexual spores of P. chrysogenum are important

human allergens. Vacuolar and alkaline serine proteases

have been implicated as the major allergenic proteins.

For the reproduction ,it is different with animals. Most fungi

reproduce via spores which, in the case of molds, occur as

white, green or black deposits on spoiled food. These

spores only bear the genes of one parent fungus. So it

was thought about Penicillium chrysogenum .

"Five years ago we already detected the existence of so-

called sex genes in Penicillium chrysogenum", says Prof.

Ulrich Kück from Ruhr University . Now, they have

discovered specific environmental conditions in which the

fungus actually reproduces sexually. They bred fungal

strains in the dark under oxygen deprivation conditions in a

nutrient medium supplemented with the vitamin biotin. The

offspring exhibited new properties, both at the molecular

level, as well as in their phenotypes.

Like the many other species of the genus Penicillium, P.

chrysogenum usually reproduces by forming dry chains

of spores (or conidia) from brush-shaped conidiophores.

The conidia are typically carried by air currents to new

colonisation sites. In P. chrysogenum the conidia are blue

to blue-green, and the mold sometimes exudes a yellow

pigment.

However, P. chrysogenum cannot be identified based on

colour alone. Observations of morphology and microscopic

features are needed to confirm its identity and DNA

sequencing is essential to distinguish it from closely related

species such as Penicillium rubens. The sexual stage of P.

chrysogenum was discovered in 2013 by mating cultures in

the dark on oatmeal agar supplemented with biotin, after the

mating types (MAT1-1 or MAT1-2) of the strains had been

determined using PCR amplification.

It is a fungus, common in temperate and subtropical

regions and can be found on salted food products, but it

is mostly found in indoor environments, especially in

damp or waterdamaged buildings.

Because P. chrysogenum is a heterotrophic organism, it

does not depend on light to survive. This characteristic

allows the organism to live in multiple habitats. Thus, P.

chrysogenum is less likely to adapt to its environment, but

instead flourish in an environment which is adapted to it.

Penicillium species are found in a variety of niches. However, they

prefer areas which are dark and damp. Moist conditions are favored

among most fungi to avoid drying out. This is a common problem fungi

face because they like to have maximum surface area to increase the

amount of nutrition they can ingest. Wind is a large help in spreading

the reproductive spores of P. chrysogenum. Thus, it is most common to

find the fungus in temperate areas.

Common natural habitats of P. chrysogenum include soil, decaying

vegetation, cultivated land, and temperate forest areas. You may also

encounter P. chrysogenum in your own household in moist areas such as

the bathroom, refrigerator, or window sills. Other fungi which you may

find in these same regions include: Penicillium fumiculosum which is

used in antibiotics and Pencilium expansum which causes the soft spots

on apples.

The metabolism of Penicillium chrysogenum is that it will express

metabolic genes differentially when grown in different medium.

Preferential gene expression shuts-down secondary metabolic

pathways such as the expression of Isopenicillin N synthase

through PacC (P08703 gene).

The inactivation of PacC will also inactivate the production of

conidia. In a glucose medium, this gene is shut off while in lactose

the gene is active.

Penicillium chrysogenum has more defenses than penicillin, it has

proteins that provide resistance to Fluconazole and

cycloheximide.

For the nutrition, it using digestive enzymes (called exoenzymes) fungi can

break down almost all man made and naturally occurring materials, P.

chrysogenum is no exception. The process which fungi break down complex

nutrients into more simple carbon compounds is extremely interesting.

It is a process of first externally digesting nutrients followed by the

ingestion of them. After P. chrysogenum ingests the nutrients, the nutrients

are spread throughout the vegetative body called the hyphae. Any unused

nutrients are stored unused as glycogen. This is similar to the way animals

store their foods. You can learn more about this process and the different

symbiotic relationships of fungi

As described above, P. chrysogenum is known to derive much of its

nutrition from decaying vegetation or from a parasitic relationship

with other organisms seen as allergens. In this specific parasitic

relationship humans often serve as the host. A second way fungi

receive nutrients is through forming lichen. Lichen is a mutualistic

relationship which includes both a fungi (usually from the phylum

ascomycota) and an algae or cyanobacteria. Based on the lineage

of P. chrysogenum it is generally assumed that it has evolved from

the lichen-forming fungi.

The importance of sequencing the genome of Penicillium

chrysogenum is evident. It is a major player in the lives of humans

today in various forms which is pathogen, allergen, and, most

importantly, as an industrial source of antibiotics.

Therefore understanding the various metabolic and biosynthetic

systems of Penicillium chrysogenum will allow the researchers the

ability to limit growth when it acts as a pathogen, lower the allergic

response to it when it acts as an allergen, or maximize biosynthesis

of penicillin when it is used to make the antibiotic.

Additionally, it is important to have the genome sequence of this

species for analysis when considering the emergence of new drug

resistant strains of bacteria.

1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penicillium_chrysogenum

2) http://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/index.php/Penicillium_chrysogenum

3) http://bioweb.uwlax.edu/bio203/s2008/kitzmann_step/

General%20Information. htm

4) BOOK : Pearson International Edition-Microbiology an Introduction

Tortora.Funke.Case

During doing this scrap book, there many things that potrait my feeling while

doing a research about this microbe which is Penicillium Chrysogenum.One of

thing that I felt was curious.I was curious how my microbe live,how its classification

and why it is beneficial to human.If it was,how it going to give benefit to human ?

And that’s make want to make a research about its advantages.

Thus, I was also feeling happy because I can learn many thing about

microrganism especially about fungi because my adopt of microbe is one from

fungi kingdom. So it make me to study a little bit about fungi kingdom.I also

discover many about pencillin which also known as antiobiotic. This is because

P.chrysogenum is the primary producer of penicillin. It produces the hydrophobic

β-lactam compound penicillin. The efficacy of the specific penicillin made is

dependent on its side chain. Originally Penicillium chrysogenum was limited to the

treatment of scarlet fever, pneumonia, gonorrhea, infection of wounds, and

serious staphylococcal infections. Today many variations of side chains yield a

wide variety of semi-synthetic penicillins that are able to fight a broader range

of bacteria.

NAME : MUHAMMAD ADAM BIN RUDAINI

MATRIC NO. : 172258

PROGRAME : BAC. SCIENCE OF MIRCROBIOLOGY

LECTURER : DR WAN ZUHAINIS BINTI SAAD

ADRESS : PASIR MAS, KELANTAN.

MATRICULATION : ASASI SAINS UITM PUNCAK ALAM

SECONDARY SCHOOL : SMK AGAMA LATI

PRINCPLE OF LIFE : NEVER GIVE UP UNTIL YOU DIE