Aspergillus niger

    Technical Data

    Type of microorganism Fungus
    Microorganism name Aspergillus niger
    Average yield in organism
    • Only one study found for production of food related enzymes, activity was 10.41 U/mL **
    • Only one study found for production of food related proteins, yield was >1g/L
    General temperature range 30-37°C (average values from studies cited before)
    General pH range pH 6-6.5 (average values form studies cited before)
    Growth rate (µ)
    Ease of genetic modification Genetic manipulation is more difficult than in yeast and bacteria; but genetic tools are widely characterized for A. niger (Garvey, 2022)
    Feedstock case studies (suitable substrates)
    Downstream purification processing complexity (isloation, lysis, purification) *
    Advantages Very good secretion of proteins, mammalian-like PTM pathways: glycosylation, peptide chain shearing, and disulfide bond formation, similar to those of mammal cells. High protein yield (Garvey, 2022)
    Challenges (Key limitations, risk factors) Complex morpghological structures, which can be challenging for industrial scale-up. Co-secretion of native enzymes, which complex DSP and reduce yield (Garvey, 2022)
    Extra/remark A. niger is mainly used to make enzyme preperations for other uses than in the food sector. Only chymosin is being produced in A. niger for food purposes.