This species was sequenced as a part of the Aspergillus whole-genus sequencing project - a project dedicated to performing whole-genome sequencing of all members of the Aspergillus genus. The Aspergilli is a ubiquitous and species-rich genus, currently containing more than 300 filamentous fungi. The genus covers a wide range of phenotypes and has a substantial economic foot print, as it includes fermenters of foodstuffs, key cell factories for production of enzymes and organic acids, plant pathogens, model organisms for cell biology, human opportunistic pathogens, producers of animal and human mycotoxins, and degraders of a wide range of organic biomass relevant for bioenergy conversion.
Aspergillus ellipticus (MB 326628)
A. ellipticus Raper & Fennell was described in The Genus Aspergillus 1965: 1-686 (on page 319). This species is placed in the A. heteromorphus clade (Varga et al., Stud Mycol 69: 1-17, 2011). It has been found in soil in Costa Rica. A sclerotium producing sector from this fungus was described as A. helicothrix (Al-Musallam, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 46: 407-411, 1980), but is now considered to be a synonym of A. ellipticus (Samson et al., Stud Mycol 50: 45-61, 2007). The cup-shaped sclerotia and the coiled setae on them is a characteristic feature of this species. Sclerotium production is stimulated by raisins (Frisvad et al., PLOS ONE 9: e94857, 2014). This species is potential candidate for bioindustrial applications.
Genome Reference(s)
Vesth TC, Nybo JL, Theobald S, Frisvad JC, Larsen TO, Nielsen KF, Hoof JB, Brandl J, Salamov A, Riley R, Gladden JM, Phatale P, Nielsen MT, Lyhne EK, Kogle ME, Strasser K, McDonnell E, Barry K, Clum A, Chen C, LaButti K, Haridas S, Nolan M, Sandor L, Kuo A, Lipzen A, Hainaut M, Drula E, Tsang A, Magnuson JK, Henrissat B, Wiebenga A, Simmons BA, Mäkelä MR, de Vries RP, Grigoriev IV, Mortensen UH, Baker SE, Andersen MR
Investigation of inter- and intraspecies variation through genome sequencing of Aspergillus section Nigri.
Nat Genet. 2018 Dec;50(12):1688-1695. doi: 10.1038/s41588-018-0246-1