Light represses conidiation in koji mold Aspergillus oryzae

In the filamentous fungus Aspergillus oryzae, there has been no report on photoreaction. Here we investigated the effect of light in A. oryzae and found that conidiation was repressed by white light. This reaction is contrary to that of other Aspergilli, which show abundant conidiation under light. Moreover, red light also caused reduced conidiation. Genome sequencing of A. oryzae indicated the existence of homologs of some light-related genes in other filamentous fungi. To approach the molecular mechanism of this photoresponse, the effect of red light on the expression level of several genes putatively responsible for conidiation or photoperception, i.e., brlA, a gene known to be required for conidiation, AofphA, the putative homolog of the A. nidulans phytochrome gene fphA, and AoveA, the putative homolog of the negative regulator gene in conidiation in A. nidulans, was examined. These three genes showed no significant response to red light at the transcriptional level. The results indicate that A. oryzae perceives and responds to red light in a manner independent of the transcriptional regulation of these genes.