Analysis of Genomic Structure of an Aflatoxin Biosynthesis Homologous Gene Cluster in Aspergillus oryzae RIB Strains

To investigate non-aflatoxin-production of A. oryzae at the molecular level, an aflatoxin biosynthesis gene homolog cluster of RIB 40 was analyzed. Although most genes in the corresponding cluster exhibited from 97 to 99 % similarity to those of Aspergillus flavus, three genes shared 93 % similarity or less. In addition, although slight expression of aflR, positive transcriptional regulator gene, was detected in some A. oryzae strains having seven aflatoxin biosynthesis homologous genes, other genes related to aflatoxin production were not detected. RIB strains were mainly divided into group 1, having seven aflatoxin biosynthesis homologous genes (aflT, nor-i, aflR, norA, avnA, verB, and vbs), and group 2, having three homologous (avnA, verB, and vbs). Partial aflatoxin homologous gene cluster of RIB62 from group 2 was sequenced and compared with that of RIB40 from group 1. RIB62 showed a large deletion upstream of ver-1 with more than half of the aflatoxin homologous gene cluster missing including aflR, a positive transcriptional regulatory gene. Adjacent to the deletion of the aflatoxin homologous gene cluster, RIB62 has a unique sequence of about 8kb and a telomere. Southern analysis of A. oryzae RIB strains with four kinds of probe derived from the unique sequence of RIB62 showed that all group 2 strains have identical hybridizing signals. Polymerase chain reaction with specific primer set designed to amplify the junction between ver-1 and the unique sequence of RIB62 resulted in the same size of DNA fragment only from group 2 strains. Based on these results, we developed a useful genetic tool that distinguishes A. oryzae group 2 strains from the other groups' strains and propose that it might have differentiated from the ancestral strains due to chromosomal breakage.