Improved Polysaccharide Production by Homologous Co-overexpression of Phosphoglucomutase and UDP Glucose Pyrophosphorylase Genes in the Mushroom Coprinopsis cinerea.

Coprinopsis polysaccharides exhibit hypoglycemic and antioxidant activities. In this report, increases inpolysaccharide production by homologous co-overexpression or individual homologous overexpression of phosphoglucomutaseand UDP glucose pyrophosphorylase gene inCoprinopsis cinerea, which participate in polysaccharide biosynthesis. Thetranscription levels of the target genes were upregulated significantly in the oePGM-UGP strain when compared with the oePGMor oeUGP strain. The maximum intracellular polysaccharide content obtained in the oePGM-UGP strain was 1.49-fold higherthan that of the WT strain, whereas a slight improvement in polysaccharide production was obtained in the oePGM and oeUGPstrains. Extracellular polysaccharide production was enhanced by 75% in the oePGM-UGP strain when compared with that of theWT strain, whereas improvements of 30% and 16% were observed for the oePGM and oeUGP strains, respectively. These resultsshow that multiple interventions in polysaccharide biosynthesis pathways of Basidiomycetes might improve polysaccharide yieldswhen compared with that of single interventions.