Aspergillus oryzae penicillin biosynthetic genes were clustered. The penicillin production was positively regulated by VeA, a global gene regulator required for transcriptional expression of the penicillin biosynthetic genes. Overexpression of the biosynthetic genes by a strong promoter yielded a greater than 100-fold increase in penicillin production.
Research Institute for Cell Engineering, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Higashi 1-1-1, AIST Tsukuba Central 6, Tsukuba 305-8566, Ibaraki, Japan.
