Aspergillus nidulans Assembly and Gene Annotation

About Aspergillus nidulans FGSC A4

Aspergillus nidulans is one of many species of filamentous fungi in the phylum Ascomycota. It has been an important research organism for studying eukaryotic cell biology

for over 50 years,

being used to study a wide range of subjects including recombination, DNA repair, mutation, cell cycle control, tubulin, chromatin, nucleokinesis, pathogenesis, metabolism, and experimental evolution.

It is one of the few species in its genus able to form sexual spores through meiosis, allowing crossing of strains in the laboratory. A. nidulans is a homothallic fungus, meaning it is able to self-fertilize and form fruiting bodies in the absence of a mating partner. It has septate hyphae with a woolly colony texture and white mycelia. The green colour of wild-type colonies is due to pigmentation of the spores, while mutations in the pigmentation pathway can produce other spore colours.

Picture credit: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons (Image source) Taxonomy ID 227321

(Text from Wikipedia.)

More information General information about this species can be found in Wikipedia

A European consortium called Eurofungbase together with the University of Manchester, sequenced the Aspergillus nidulans strain FGSC-4A genome using whole genome shotgun (WGS) sequencing. The genome is ~29.8 Mbp and assembled into 8 chromosomes.

References

1. CADRE: the Central Aspergillus Data REpository.
   Mabey JE, Anderson MJ, Giles PF, Miller CJ, Attwood TK, Paton NW, Bornberg-Bauer E, Robson GD, Oliver SG, Denning DW. 2004. Nucleic Acids Res.. 32:D401-5.
2. Sequencing of Aspergillus nidulans and comparative analysis with A. fumigatus and A. oryzae.
   Galagan JE, Calvo SE, Cuomo C, Ma LJ, Wortman JR, ..., Dyer P, Sachs MS, Osmani SA, Birren BW. 2005. Nature. 438:1105-1115.
3. The 2008 update of the Aspergillus nidulans genome annotation: a community effort.
   Wortman JR, Gilsenan JM, Joardar V, Deegan J, Clutterbuck J, ..., Brandt BW, Cornell MJ, van den Hondel CA, Visser J et al. 2009. Fungal Genet. Biol.. 46 Suppl 1:S2-13.

More information

General information about this species can be found in Wikipedia.