Trichoderma reesei Nsd3 transcription factor: pleiotropic roles in development, stress response, secondary metabolism, and cellulase production.

Deletion of Nsd3 in Trichoderma reesei enhances cellulase and hemicellulase activities by removing repression of key genes, revealing a novel regulatory role in fungi.

• Why it matters: Understanding the regulation of cellulase production is crucial for optimizing biorefinery processes, yet the complex transcriptional control mechanisms remain incompletely characterized.
• What they did: Researchers used RNA-Seq, ATAC-Seq, and protein-DNA interaction assays to analyze Nsd3, a newly identified transcription factor, and its influence on gene expression, stress responses, and secondary metabolism in T. reesei.
• The result: Findings show Nsd3 directly represses cellulase-related genes and regulates cell wall remodeling, transporters, and secondary metabolism, providing insights for engineering high-performance strains for biomass degradation.