Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 29, 2025

Author Spotlight: Developing Acetyl-Click Assay for HAT1 Inhibitor Screening
Published on: January 26, 2024
Histone Acetyltransferase Rtt109 Regulates Development, Morphogenesis, and Citrinin Biosynthesis in Monascus
Ruoyu Shi1,2, Pengfei Gong1, Qiaoqiao Luo1
1Key Laboratory of Geriatric Nutrition and Health, Ministry of Education, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Food Nutrition and Human Health, Beijing Engineering and Technology Research Center of Food Additives, Beijing Technology & Business University (BTBU), Beijing 100048, China.
Abstract:
Histone acetyltransferase (HAT) has been reported to be pivotal for various physiological processes in many fungi. However, the functions that HAT Rtt109 perform in edible fungi Monascus and the underlying mechanism remains unclear. Here, we identified the rtt109 gene in Monascus, constructed the rtt109 knockout strain (Δrtt109) and its complementary strain (Δrtt109:com) by CRISPR/Cas9 methods, and functionally characterized the roles that Rtt109 play in Monascus. Deletion of rtt109 significantly reduced conidia formation and colony growth, whereas, it increased the yield of Monascus pigments (MPs) and citrinin (CTN). Further real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) analysis indicated that Rtt109 remarkably affected the transcriptional expression of key genes related to development, morphogenesis, and secondary metabolism of Monascus. Together, our results revealed the critical roles of HAT Rtt109 in Monascus, and enriched our current knowledge of the development and regulation of secondary metabolism in fungi, throwing light on restraining or eliminating citrinin in the development and industrial applications of Monascus.
Related Concept Videos
Spreading of Chromatin Modifications
Writers
The writer...
Histone Modification
Acetylation
The enzyme histone acetyltransferase adds acetyl group to the histones. Another enzyme, histone...
Master Transcription Regulators
Cell Specific Gene Expression
Transcription Attenuation in Prokaryotes
There are several different mechanisms used to attenuate transcription. In ribosome mediated...
Allosteric Proteins-ATCase
Aspartate transcarbamoylase (ATCase) is a cytosolic enzyme that catalyzes the condensation of L-aspartate and carbamoyl phosphate to N-carbamoyl-L-aspartate. This reaction is the first step in pyrimidine biosynthesis. UTP and CTP, the end products of the pyrimidine synthesis...

