As can be deduced from this pathway, the yield of itaconic acid
is depended on that the efficient production of citric acid, and its
related biochemical pathway. Therefore it was expected that the
itaconic acid pathway in A. terreus would rely on the genetic make
up of the citric acid pathway with only a few additional genes, in
particular genes encoding the last committed step from cisaconitate
into itaconic acid, cis-aconitate decarboxylase. Therefore
in our research we decided to identify the itaconic acid specific
pathway genes from A. terreus to allow their expression in A. niger.