White mutants of chloroperoxidase-secreting Caldariomyces fumago as superior production strains, revealing an interaction between pigmentation and enzyme secretion.

By mutant-colony screening of Caldariomyces fumago, several white mutants were isolated that are superior strains for the production of the valuable enzyme chloroperoxidase (CPO). Their culture supernatant lacks the contaminating dark pigment, which simplifies downstream processing. Furthermore, the CPO content increased significantly faster than the wild-type rate, which uncovers possible interactions between pigmentation and enzyme secretion.