Aspergillus brasiliensis is a member of the black aspergilli, as are the already sequenced A. niger, A. carbonarius, and A. aculeatus. It is also being used in industry, in particular for enzyme production. The reason we feel that sequencing more of this group is relevant is that we recently obtained data highlighting the differences between these species. All black aspergilli grow well on wheat bran, a crude plant biomass, but their protein (SDS-PAGE) and enzyme activity profiles are significantly different between these species. This indicates that they apply different strategies to degrade plant biomass and detailed analysis of these differences will enable us to design better industrial processes that involve plant biomass degradation. In addition, there are also significant differences in their ability to utilise monomeric carbon sources. For instance, A. brasiliensis is the only black aspergillus species that can grow from spores on D-galactose. The availability of these additional genomes would allow identification of novel enzymes and mechanisms.
Genome Reference(s)
de Vries RP, Riley R, Wiebenga A, Aguilar-Osorio G, Amillis S, Uchima CA, Anderluh G, Asadollahi M, Askin M, Barry K, Battaglia E, Bayram Ö, Benocci T, Braus-Stromeyer SA, Caldana C, Cánovas D, Cerqueira GC, Chen F, Chen W, Choi C, Clum A, Dos Santos RA, Damásio AR, Diallinas G, Emri T, Fekete E, Flipphi M, Freyberg S, Gallo A, Gournas C, Habgood R, Hainaut M, Harispe ML, Henrissat B, Hildén KS, Hope R, Hossain A, Karabika E, Karaffa L, Karányi Z, KraÅ¡evec N, Kuo A, Kusch H, LaButti K, Lagendijk EL, Lapidus A, Levasseur A, Lindquist E, Lipzen A, Logrieco AF, MacCabe A, Mäkelä MR, Malavazi I, Melin P, Meyer V, Mielnichuk N, Miskei M, Molnár ÃP, Mulé G, Ngan CY, Orejas M, Orosz E, Ouedraogo JP, Overkamp KM, Park HS, Perrone G, Piumi F, Punt PJ, Ram AF, Ramón A, Rauscher S, Record E, Riaño-Pachón DM, Robert V, Röhrig J, Ruller R, Salamov A, Salih NS, Samson RA, Sándor E, Sanguinetti M, Schütze T, SepÄić K, Shelest E, Sherlock G, Sophianopoulou V, Squina FM, Sun H, Susca A, Todd RB, Tsang A, Unkles SE, van de Wiele N, van Rossen-Uffink D, Oliveira JV, Vesth TC, Visser J, Yu JH, Zhou M, Andersen MR, Archer DB, Baker SE, Benoit I, Brakhage AA, Braus GH, Fischer R, Frisvad JC, Goldman GH, Houbraken J, Oakley B, Pócsi I, Scazzocchio C, Seiboth B, vanKuyk PA, Wortman J, Dyer PS, Grigoriev IV
Comparative genomics reveals high biological diversity and specific adaptations in the industrially and medically important fungal genus Aspergillus.
Genome Biol. 2017 Feb 14;18(1):28. doi: 10.1186/s13059-017-1151-0
