In silico advancement of Aspergillus niger gluconic acid hyperproduction recommends plans for switching acid productivity

Abstract

Background: Non-toxic, non-volatile organic acid, gluconic acid (pentahydroxycaproic acid) is found in abundance in honey and plants and in wines. Gluconic acid and its salts are used widely in food, feed, pharmaceuticals, textiles, and many other industries.Methods: In the current investigation, Aspergillus niger was utilized for Gluconic acid production in submerged fermentation. Furthermore, for Gluconic acid hyperproduction, the fungus Aspergillus niger was exposed to MNNG (100 µg/ml) for 15 minutes. Aspergillus niger strain (parent and mutant) was tested and identified for its capability of producing gluconic acid. We finished the molecular identification, in which we extracted the DNA from the  A. niger and amplified its ITS region using specific primers. We further sequenced the amplified product and created a phylogenetic tree employing the MEGA6 software.Results: The tree results showed that our target sequence has 100% identity with Aspergillus niger, which proved that the isolated strain belongs to the Aspergillus genera. In addition, factors related to the production of gluconic acid were confirmed by cultivating the mutant strain A. niger (MG1) and the parent strain under several conditions. These included varying the pH (4-7), temperature (30-40°C), and the concentration of the carbon source (40-100 g/l). The outcomes displayed that the best pH was 5. The most favorable temperature was 30°C, and maximum production occurred at a carbon source concentration of 100 g/l, for both mutant and parent strains.Conclusion: This study shows how microbial strains and substrates could be used to attain cost-effective hyperproduction of gluconic acid to achieve objectives of industrial significance. Keywords: Gluconic Acid; Aspergillus niger; Hyper-production; Mutation; Molecular identification; Sequencing  Editorial Expression of Concern:20 May 2025: Following publication of this paper, the internal audit (consequent to concerns on quality raised by Web of Science) notified Advancements in Life Sciences about minor English language errors and quality of figures. By this Editorial Expression of Concern, we alert the scientific community of the errors as we examine the concerns, address errors and refurnish figures with higher DPI.Editorial Note:28 May 2025:  You are viewing the latest version of this article having minor corrections in use of English language. Readers may please see figures with higher DPI given at the end of Results section. Expression of concern is hereby revoked