Reduced viscosity mutants of Trichoderma reesei with improved industrial fermentation characteristics

Morphological mutants of Trichoderma reesei were isolated following chemical or insertional mutagenesis. The mutant strains were shown to have reduced viscosity under industrially relevant fermentation conditions and to have maintained high specific productivity of secreted protein. This allowed higher biomass concentration to be maintained during the production phase and, consequently, increased volumetric productivity of secreted protein. The causative mutations were traced to four individual genes (designated sfb3, ssb7, seb1, and mpg1). We showed that two of the morphological mutations could be combined in a single strain to further reduce viscosity and enable a 100% increase in volumetric productivity.