BACKGROUND:The fungal genus Aspergillus is of critical importance to humankind. Species include those with industrial applications, important pathogens of humans, animals and crops, a source of potent carcinogenic contaminants of food, and an important genetic model. The genome sequences of eight aspergilli have already been explored to investigate aspects of fungal biology, raising questions about evolution and specialization within this genus. RESULTS:We have generated genome sequences for ten novel, highly diverse Aspergillus species and compared these in detail to sister and more distant genera. Comparative studies of key aspects of fungal biology, including primary and secondary metabolism, stress response, biomass degradation, and signal transduction, revealed both conservation and diversity among the species. Observed genomic differences were validated with experimental studies. This revealed several highlights, such as the potential for sex in asexual species, organic acid production genes being a key feature of black aspergilli, alternative approaches for degrading plant biomass, and indications for the genetic basis of stress response. A genome-wide phylogenetic analysis demonstrated in detail the relationship of the newly genome sequenced species with other aspergilli. CONCLUSIONS:Many aspects of biological differences between fungal species cannot be explained by current knowledge obtained from genome sequences. The comparative genomics and experimental study, presented here, allows for the first time a genus-wide view of the biological diversity of the aspergilli and in many, but not all, cases linked genome differences to phenotype. Insights gained could be exploited for biotechnological and medical applications of fungi.

The high-affinity nitrate transporter of green plants is composed of two polypeptides, NRT2.1 and NAR2.1, while in fungi it appears that nitrate influx is mediated by NRT2 alone. Another difference between plants and fungi is that the central (cytoplasmic) loop of the 12 membrane spanning regions of NRT is quite large in fungi, consisting of 91 amino acid residues, compared with the relatively short (21 amino acid residues) plant NRT2.1. Here we examine potential amino acid residues involved in the plant NRT2.1: NAR2.1 association by mutation of conserved amino acids in Arabidopsis thaliana AtNRT2.1. Only the replacement of leucine 85 by glutamine disrupted the association between AtNRT2.1 and AtNAR2.1, as examined using the yeast two-hybrid system. Further, to investigate the nitrate-transporting function of AtNRT2.1 in a context free of other members of the NRT2 family, we expressed AtNRT2.1 in Aspergillus nidulans. In the fungal context the plant NRT alone was capable of restoring nitrate transport to a nitrate transport defective mutant, but only when the AtNRT2.1 central loop was replaced by its fungal counterpart.

Classification and Clusters of signal transduction related genes. (XLSX 1577 kb)

The NrtA and NrtB nitrate transporters are paralogous members of the major facilitator superfamily in Aspergillus nidulans. The availability of loss-of-function mutations allowed individual investigation of the specificity and inhibitor sensitivity of both NrtA and NrtB. In this study, growth response tests were carried out at a growth-limiting concentration of nitrate (1 mM) as the sole nitrogen source, in the presence of a number of potential nitrate analogues at various concentrations, to evaluate their effect on nitrate transport. Both chlorate and chlorite inhibited fungal growth, with chlorite exerting the greater inhibition. The main transporter of nitrate, NrtA, proved to be more sensitive to chlorate than the minor transporter, NrtB. Similarly, the cation caesium was shown to exert differential effects, strongly inhibiting the activity of NrtB, but not NrtA. In contrast, no inhibition of nitrate uptake by NrtA or NrtB transporters was observed in either growth tests or uptake assays in the presence of bicarbonate, formate, malonate or oxalate (sulphite could not be tested in uptake assays owing to its reaction with nitrate), indicating significant specificity of nitrate transport. Kinetic analyses of nitrate uptake revealed that both chlorate and chlorite inhibited NrtA competitively, while these same inhibitors inhibited NrtB in a non-competitive fashion. The caesium ion appeared to inhibit NrtA in a noncompetitive fashion, while NrtB was inhibited uncompetitively. The results provide further evidence of the distinctly different characteristics as well as the high specificity of nitrate uptake by these two transporters.

Synthetic biology is an ever-expanding field in science, also encompassing the research area of fungal natural product (NP) discovery and production. Until now, different aspects of synthetic biology have been covered in fungal NP studies from the manipulation of different regulatory elements and heterologous expression of biosynthetic pathways to the engineering of different multidomain biosynthetic enzymes such as polyketide synthases or non-ribosomal peptide synthetases. The following review will cover some of the exemplary studies of synthetic biology in filamentous fungi showing the capacity of these eukaryotes to be used as model organisms in the field. From the vast array of different NPs produced to the ease for genetic manipulation, filamentous fungi have proven to be an invaluable source for the further development of synthetic biology tools.

Filamentous fungi have the capacity to produce a battery of natural products of often unknown function, synthesized by complex metabolic pathways. Unfortunately, most of these pathways appear silent, many in intractable organisms, and their products consequently unidentified. One basic challenge is the difficulty of expressing a biosynthesis pathway for a complex natural product in a heterologous eukaryotic host. Here, we provide a proof-of concept solution to this challenge and describe how the entire penicillin biosynthesis pathway can be expressed in a heterologous host. The method takes advantage of a combination of improved yeast in vivo cloning technology, generation of polycistronic mRNA for the gene cluster under study, and an amenable and easily manipulated fungal host, i.e., Aspergillus nidulans. We achieve expression from a single promoter of the pathway genes to yield a large polycistronic mRNA by using viral 2A peptide sequences to direct successful cotranslational cleavage of pathway enzymes.

Common to all of the nitrate nitrite porter family are two conserved motifs in transmembrane helices 5 and 11 termed NS (nitrate signature) 1 and NS2. Although perfectly conserved substrate-interacting arginine residues have been described in transmembrane helices 2 and 8, the role of NSs has not been investigated. In the present study, a combination of structural modelling of NrtA (nitrate transporter from Aspergillus nidulans) with alanine scanning mutagenesis of residues within and around the NSs has been used to shed light on the probable role of conserved residues in the NSs. Models show that Asn168 in NS1 and Asn459 in NS2 are positioned approximately midway within the protein at the central pivot point in close proximity to the substrate-binding residues Arg368 and Arg87 respectively, which lie offset from the pivot point towards the cytoplasmic face. The Asn168/Arg368 and Asn459/Arg87 residue pairs are relatively widely separated on opposite sides of the probable substrate translocation pore. The results of the present study demonstrate the critical structural contribution of several glycine residues in each NS at sites of close helix packing. Given the relative locations of Asn168/Arg368 and Asn459/Arg87 pairs, the validity of the models and possible role of the NSs together with the substrate-binding arginine residues are discussed.

This study reports a novel study of marine biofilm formation comprising aerobic and anaerobic bacteria. Samples of quartz and feldspar, minerals commonly found on the earth, were suspended 5 m deep in the North Sea off the east coast of St. Andrews, Scotland for 5 weeks. The assemblage of organisms attached to these stones was cultivated under aerobic and anaerobic conditions in the laboratory. Bacteria isolated on Marine Agar 2216 were all Gram-negative and identified to genus level by sequencing the gene encoding 16S rRNA. Colwellia, Maribacter, Pseudoaltermonas and Shewanella were observed in aerobically-grown cultures while Vibrio was found to be present in both aerobic and anaerobic cultures. The obligate anaerobic bacterium Psychrilyobacter atlanticus, a recently defined genus, was identified as a close relative of isolates grown anaerobically. The results provide valuable information as to the main players that attach and form de novo biofilms on common minerals in sea water.

High-affinity nitrite influx into mycelia of Aspergillus nidulans has been characterized by use of (13)NO(2)(-), giving average K(m) and V(max) values of 48 ± 8 μM and 228 ± 49 nmol mg(-1) dry weight (DW) h(-1), respectively. Kinetic analysis of a plot that included an additional large number of low-concentration fluxes gave an excellent monophasic fit (r(2) = 0.96), with no indication of sigmoidal kinetics. Two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) models of AnNitA are presented, and the possible roles of conserved asparagine residues N122 (transmembrane domain 3 ]Tm 3]), N173 (Tm 4), N214 (Tm 5), and N246 (Tm 6) are discussed.

The formate-nitrite transporter family is composed of integral membrane proteins that possess six to eight alpha-helical transmembrane domains. Genes encoding these proteins are observed widely in prokaryotic genomes as well as certain groups of lower eukaryotes. Thus far, no structural information is available for this transporter family. Towards this aim, and to provide protein for biophysical studies, overexpression of a prokaryotic (TpNirC, from the hyperthermophilic archaebacterium Thermofilum pendens) and an eukaryotic (AnNitA, from the fungus Aspergillus nidulans) representative was achieved in Escherichia coli and Pichia pastoris hosts, respectively. The proteins were purified to >95% homogeneity yielding quantities sufficient for crystallisation trials and were shown by Circular Dichroism (CD) spectroscopy to have a highly alpha-helical content as expected from in silico predictions. Preliminary investigations by size exclusion chromatography of the oligomeric state of the purified AnNitA protein suggested that it most likely exists as a tetramer.

Disruption of the Aspergillus nidulans high-affinity nitrate transporter genes (nrtA and nrtB) prevents growth on nitrate but not nitrite. We identified a distinct nitrite transporter (Km = 4.2 ± 1 μM, Vmax = 168 ± 21 nmol mg−1 DW−1 h−1), designated NitA. Disruption of nrtA, nrtB and nitA blocked growth on nitrite, despite low rates of nitrite depletion we ascribe to passive nitrous acid permeation. Growth of the single mutant nitA16 on nitrite was wild-type, suggesting that NrtA and/or NrtB transports nitrite as well as nitrate. Indeed, NrtA and NrtB transport nitrite at higher rates than NitA; Km and Vmax values were 16 ± 4 μM and 808 ± 67 nmol mg−1 DW−1 h−1 (NrtA) and 11 ± 1 μM and 979 ± 17 nmol mg−1 DW−1 h−1 (NrtB). We suggest that NrtA is a nitrate/nitrite transporter, NrtB absorbs nitrite in preference to nitrate and NitA is exclusively a nitrite transporter.

Here, influx and efflux of (13)NO(3)(-), and net fluxes of (14)NO(3)(-) and (14)NO(2)(-), were measured in Aspergillus nidulans mutants niaD171 and niiA5, devoid of nitrate reductase (NR) and nitrite reductase (NiR) activities, respectively. Transcript and protein abundances of NrtA, the A. nidulans principal high-affinity NO(3)(-) transporter, were determined using semiquantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and western blots, respectively. (13)NO(3)(-) influx in niaD171 was negligible relative to wild-type values, whereas efflux to influx ratios increased nine-fold. Nevertheless, NrtA mRNA and NrtA protein were expressed at levels more than two-fold and three-fold higher, respectively, in niaD171 than in the wild-type strain. This is the first demonstration of diminished high-affinity NO(3)(-) influx associated with elevated transporter levels, providing evidence that, in addition to transcriptional regulation, control of NrtA expression operates at the post-translational level. This mechanism allows for rapid control of NO(3)(-) transport at the protein level, reduces the extent of futile cycling of NO(3)(-) that would otherwise represent a significant energy drain when influx exceeds the capacity for assimilation or storage, and may be responsible for the rapid switching between the on and off state that is associated with simultaneous provision of NH(4)(+) to mycelia absorbing NO(3)(-).

Three exocellular β-1,3-glucanases from Acremonium blochii strain C59, BGN3.2, BGN3.3 and BGN3.4, were purified. Two, BGN3.2 and BGN3.4 appeared to act as exo-enzymes against laminarin from Laminaria digitata, while BGN3.3 displayed an endo-mode of action. The N-terminal amino acid sequence data for BGN3.2 and BGN3.4 suggested these two enzymes may be encoded by different genes. The gene encoding the BGN3.2 glucanase was fully sequenced, and its deduced amino acid sequence was similar to those for all other sequenced fungal exo-β-1,3-glucanases. This BGN3.2 gene consists of an uninterrupted ORF of 2349bp encoding 783 amino acids possibly with two cleavage sites for the potential removal of a pre- and pro-protein, respectively. A DNA fragment encoding a portion of the BGN3.4 gene was amplified by PCR, and the nucleotide sequence of this fragment confirmed that BGN3.2 and BGN3.4 are encoded by different genes. The internal peptide sequences of BGN3.3 were not present in the amino acid sequence deduced from the BGN3.2 gene, reinforcing the view that BGN3.3 is also genetically different to BGN3.2. Genetic differences between multiple forms of fungal β-1,3-glucanases from a single fungus have not been reported previously.

All eight cysteine residues, C90, C94, C143, C147, C219, C325, C367, and C431, present in transmembrane domains of the Aspergillus nidulans NrtA nitrate transporter protein were altered individually by site-specific mutagenesis. The results indicate that six residues, C90, C147, C219, C325, C367, and C431, are not required for nitrate transport. Although alterations of C94 and C143 are less well tolerated, these residues are not mandatory and their possible role is discussed. A series of constructs, all completely devoid of cysteine residues, was generated to permit future cysteine-scanning mutagenesis. The optimum cysteine-less combination was identified as C90A, C94A, C143A, C147T, C219S, C325S, C367S, and C431S. This mutant combination yielded transformant strains with up to 40% of wild-type nitrate transport activity. Furthermore, the K(m) value and the level of protein expression were found to be similar to those of the wild-type. This cysteine-less vector should allow us to investigate in detail potentially interesting NrtA amino acids (e.g. identified from homology comparisons) which may be involved in transport, by altering these singly to cysteine and studying such residues by thiol chemistry.

Two extracellular β-1,6-glucanases were isolated, purified and characterized from culture filtrates of the fungus Acremonium OXF C13 grown with pustulan as sole carbon source. Both behaved as endo-acting enzymes and shared other biochemical characteristics, but differed in their molecular weights. The N-terminal amino acid sequence data from one of these, BGN6.1, showed high similarity to all other fungal β-1,6-glucanases so far sequenced. These sequence data were used to design PCR primers to isolate the gene encoding BGN6.1 from a genomic DNA library. This gene contained a putative 77bp intron within an open reading frame of 1296bp encoding 432 amino acids. A putative TATA motif was present at −84, and a potential creA consensus sequence of SYGGRG was seen at position −111. Comparing the experimentally determined N-terminal sequence data with the deduced amino acid sequence from the BGN6.1 gene indicates that the mature protein starts at amino acid 41 and Lys-Arg (KR), a known KEX2 protease recognition site immediately precedes the N-terminal amino acids. A further predicted signal cleavage site for the prepeptide was seen between amino acids 17 and 18. Similarities between this gene and those encoding other fungal β-1,6-glucanases are discussed. As no N-terminal amino acid sequence data could be obtained for the second β-1,6-glucanase from Acremonium OXF C13, internal peptides were sequenced instead. However, none of these sequences showed homology to the BGN6.1 glucanase, suggesting that the BGN6.1 and BGN6.2 glucanases are encoded by different genes.

Culicinomyces clavisporus, a fungal pathogen of a wide range of mosquito species, was investigated in relation to potential pathogenicity against Culicoides nubeculosus biting midge larvae. Seven different C. clavisporus strains were assayed. Each showed some degree of activity against C. nubeculosus larvae with LC50 values of between 3.2 x 10(-5) and 1.1 x 10(-6) spores/mL; these effects occurred in dose-dependent manners and tended to be delayed until 72-96 h post treatment. The results are discussed in relation to incorporation of C. clavisporus into biocontrol programmes for Culicoides spp.

The ability to transport net nitrate was conferred upon transformant cells of the non-nitrate-assimilating yeast Pichia pastoris after the introduction of two genes, one encoding nitrate reductase and the other nitrate transport. It was observed that cells of this lower eukaryote transformed with the nitrate transporter gene alone failed to display net nitrate transport despite having the ability to produce the protein. In addition, loss-of-function nitrate reductase mutants isolated from several nitrate-assimilating fungi appeared to be unable to accumulate nitrate. Uptake assays using the tracer \batchmode \documentclass[fleqn,10pt,legalpaper]{article} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amsmath} \pagestyle{empty} \begin{document} \(^{13}\mathrm{NO}_{3}^{-}\) \end{document} showed that nitrate influx is negligible in cells of a nitrate reductase null mutant. In parallel studies using a higher eukaryotic plant, Arabidopsis thaliana, loss-of-function nitrate reductase strains homozygous for both NIA1 insertion and NIA2 deletion were found to have no detectable nitrate reductase mRNA or nitrate reductase activity but retained the ability to transport nitrate. The reasons for these fundamental differences in nitrate transport into the cells of representative members of these two eukaryotic kingdoms are discussed.

This study represents the first attempt to investigate the molecular mechanisms by which nitrate, an anion of significant ecological, agricultural, and medical importance, is transported into cells by high-affinity nitrate transporters. Two charged residues, R87 and R368, located within hydrophobic transmembrane domains 2 and 8, respectively, are conserved in all 52 high-affinity nitrate transporters sequenced thus far. Site-directed replacements of either of R87 or R368 residues by lysine were found to be tolerated, but such residue changes increased the K(m) for nitrate influx from micromolar to millimolar values. Seven other amino acid substitutions of R87 or R368 all led to loss of function and lack of growth on nitrate. No evidence was obtained of R87 or R368 forming a salt-bridge with conserved acidic residues. Remarkably, the phenotype of loss-of-function mutant R87T was found to be alleviated by an alteration to lysine of N459, present in the second copy of the nitrate signature (transmembrane domain 11), suggesting a structural or functional interplay between residues R87 and N459 in the three-dimensional NrtA protein structure. Failure of the potential reciprocal second site suppressor N168K (in the first nitrate signature copy of transmembrane domain 5) to revert R368T was observed. Taken with recent structural studies of other major facilitator superfamily proteins, the results suggest that R87 and R368 are involved in substrate binding and probably located in a region of the protein close to N459.

The transport of nitrate into prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, of considerable interest to agriculture, ecology, and human health, is carried out by members of a distinct cluster of proteins within the major facilitator superfamily. To obtain structure/function information on this important class of nitrate permeases, a collection of chemically induced mutations in the nrtA gene encoding a 12-transmembrane domain, high-affinity nitrate transporter from the eukaryote Aspergillus nidulans was isolated and characterized. This mutational analysis, coupled with protein alignments, demonstrates the utility of the approach to predicting peptide motifs and individual residues important for the movement of nitrate across the membrane. These include the highly conserved nitrate signature motif (residues 166-173) in Tm 5, the conserved charged residues Arg87 (Tm 2) and Arg368 (Tm 8), as well as the aromatic residue Phe47 (Tm 1), all within transmembrane helices. No mutations were observed in the large central loop (Lp 6/7) between Tm 6 and Tm 7. Finally, the study of a strain with a conversion of Trp481 (Tm 12) to a stop codon suggests that all 12 transmembrane domains and/or the C-terminal tail are required for membrane insertion and/or stability of NrtA.