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Starch, an inexpensive and renewable substrate hydrolyzed into glucose, is a promising carbon source, yet its cooperative hydrolysis mechanisms remain unclear. This study revealed that Aspergillus niger \u0394cexA, a high l-malic acid producer, exhibited enhanced starch-hydrolyzing capacity. Under starch induction, \u0394cexA secreted higher levels of extracellular proteins, including key starch-hydrolyzing enzymes such as AmyA (\u03b1-Amylase). Aspartic protease PepA, the second most abundant extracellular protein, also promoted starch hydrolysis. Deletion of pepA reduced hydrolysis efficiency, whereas overexpression of amyA and pepA in A. niger ATCC 1015 enhanced starch-hydrolyzing activity. These findings reveal a cooperative mechanism involving AmyA and PepA, highlight an unconventional functional role of PepA in starch utilization, and provide molecular targets for engineering fungal strains to efficiently utilize low-cost carbon sources, thereby supporting greener and more economical biomanufacturing.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1021\/acs.jafc.6c08919","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,4]],"date-time":"2026-08-04T22:02:04Z","timestamp":1785880924000},"page":"25518-25528","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["\u03b1-Amylase AmyA and Aspartic Protease\nPepA Cooperatively Drive Efficient Starch Hydrolysis in\n                    <i>Aspergillus niger<\/i>"],"prefix":"10.1021","volume":"74","author":[{"given":"Chenbing","family":"Li","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Nanjing Normal University , , ,","place":["Nanjing, China, 210097"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rui","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Nanjing Normal University , , ,","place":["Nanjing, China, 210097"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tianlin","family":"Fu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Nanjing Normal University , , ,","place":["Nanjing, China, 210097"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Fei","family":"Feng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Nanjing Normal University , , ,","place":["Nanjing, China, 210097"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Dongdong","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Nanjing Normal University , , ,","place":["Nanjing, China, 210097"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yiting","family":"Song","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Nanjing Normal University , , ,","place":["Nanjing, China, 210097"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yanan","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Nanjing Normal University , , ,","place":["Nanjing, China, 210097"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ding","family":"Yan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Nanjing Normal University , , ,","place":["Nanjing, China, 210097"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Na","family":"Wu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"YanCheng Institute of Technology , , ,","place":["Yancheng, China, 224051"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ling","family":"Hua","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Nanjing Normal University , , ,","place":["Nanjing, China, 210097"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0001-3324-180X","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Feng","family":"Xue","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Nanjing Normal University , , ,","place":["Nanjing, China, 210097"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2699-3448","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Xing","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Nanjing Normal University , , ,","place":["Nanjing, China, 210097"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Qing","family":"Xu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Nanjing Normal University , , ,","place":["Nanjing, China, 210097"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chi","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Nanjing Normal University , , ,","place":["Nanjing, China, 210097"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"316","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,4]]},"reference":[{"key":"2026081910160027600_cit1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.biortech.2024.131061","article-title":"Engineering\nBacillus licheniformis as industrial chassis for efficient bioproduction\nfrom starch","volume":"406","author":"Zhu","year":"2024","journal-title":"Bioresour. 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