Autophagy deficiency boosts the production of kojic acid in the filamentous fungus Aspergillus oryzae.

We found that the expression of genes involved in kojic acid (KA) biosynthesis, kojA, kojR, and kojT, was highly elevated in the Aspergillus oryzae autophagy-deficient mutants. In agreement, KA production was much increased in these mutants. Nuclear translocation of KojR, a transcription factor, was observed in the autophagy mutants before they were starved, explaining why KA production was boosted.