Functional analysis of Trichoderma reesei CKIIα2, a catalytic subunit of casein kinase II

Trichoderma reesei is the most important industrial cellulase-producing filamentous fungus. Although its molecular physiology has been investigated, the signal transduction pathways are not fully understood. In particular, the role of casein kinase II (CKII) is not yet clear. In this work, we carried out functional investigations on a catalytic subunit of CKII, CKIIα2. Comparison of the phenotypic features of T. reesei parent and Δck2α2 strains showed significant changes following ck2α2 disruption. T. reesei Δck2α2 form significantly smaller mycelial pellets in glucose-containing liquid minimum media, have shorter and fewer branch hyphae, produce smaller amounts of chitinases, produce more spores, show more robust growth on glucose-containing agar plates, and consume glucose at a significantly higher rate. Suggestions can be made that CKIIα2 governs chitinase expression, and the disruption of ck2α2 results in lower levels of chitinase production, leading to a weaker cell wall disruption capability, further resulting in weaker hyphal branching, which eventually leads to smaller mycelial pellets in liquid media. Further conclusions can be made that CKIIα2 is involved in repression of sporulation and glucose metabolism, which is consistent with the proposal that CKIIα2 represses global metabolism. These observations make the deletion of ck2α2 a potentially beneficial genetic disruption for T. reesei during industrial applications, as smaller mycelial pellets, more spores and more robust glucose metabolism are all desired traits for industrial fermentation. This work reports novel unique functions of a CKII catalytic subunit and is also the first genetic and physiological investigation on CKII in T. reesei.