Fig.3-3 The expression levels of MareA gene in C100, ΔMareA and OE-MareA strains
3.2 Phenotypic analysis of ΔMareA and OE-MareA strains
3.2.1 Morphological analysis of colonies
Based on the combined data presented above, it is evident that the knockout strains ΔMareA exhibit a more pronounced difference in colony morphology compared to the original strain C100. Regarding aerial mycelium production, the overexpression strain OE-MareA demonstrates increased levels, while the ΔMareA strain displays significantly reduced aerial mycelium formation. There is minimal variation in colony color among the three strains. When comparing different nitrogen sources, Gln and (NH4)2SO4 have negligible impact on colony morphology, whereas NaNO3and Urea exert a more significant effect. Specifically, growth of the ΔMareA strain is markedly inhibited on PDA plates supplemented with NaNO3 and Urea, while colonies of OE-MareA strain exhibit normal growth. In conclusion, it can be inferred that knockdown or overexpression of MareA gene influences colony morphology without substantial impact on pigmentation species. Additionally, different nitrogen sources exert varying degrees of influence on colony morphology for all three strains. As shown in Figure 3-4.