pecies in the genus Aspergillus are of broad interest to medical 1 , applied 2,3 , and basic research 4. Members of Aspergillus section Nigri ('black aspergilli') are prolific producers of native and heterologous proteins 5,6 , organic acids (in particular citric acid 2,7,8), and secondary metabolites (including biopharmaceuticals and mycotoxins like ochratoxin A). Furthermore, the section members are generally very efficient producers of extracellular enzymes 9,10 ; they are the production organisms for 49 out of 260 industrial enzymes 11,12. Among the most important of these, in addition to A. niger, are A. tubingensis, A. aculeatus, and A. luchuensis (previously A. acidus, A. kawachii, and A. awamori 13-15 , respectively). Members of Aspergillus section Nigri are also known as destructive degraders of foods and feeds, and some isolates produce the potent mycotoxins ochratoxin A 16 and fumonisins 17-19. In addition, some species in this section have been proposed to be pathogenic to humans and other animals 20. It is thus of interest to further examine section Nigri for industrial exploitation, as well as prevention of food spoilage, toxin production, and pathogenicity caused by these fungi. A combined phylogenetic and phenotypic approach has shown that section Nigri contains at least 27 species 21-25. Recent results have shown that the section contains species with high diversity and may consist of two separate clades: the biseriate species and the uniseriate species 26 , which show differences in sexual states 27 , sclerotium formation 28 , and secondary metabolite production 29. In the section, only six species have had their genome sequenced: A. niger 2,8 , A. luchuensis 15,30 , A. carbonarius 31 , A. aculeatus 31 , A. tubingensis 31 , and A. brasiliensis 31. This section, with its combination of species richness and fungal species with a diverse impact on humanity, is thus particularly interesting for studying the diversification of fungi into species. In this study, we have de novo-sequenced the genomes of 20 species of section Nigri, thus completing a genome compendium of 26 described species in the section. Further, we have genome-sequenced three

The fungal genus of is highly interesting, containing everything from industrial cell factories, model organisms, and human pathogens. In particular, this group has a prolific production of bioactive secondary metabolites (SMs). In this work, four diverse species (, ,, and )have been whole-genome PacBio sequenced to provide genetic references in three sections. and also were sequenced for SM elucidation. Thirteen genomes were analyzed with comparative genomics to determine phylogeny and genetic diversity, showing that each presented genome contains 15-27% genes not found in other sequenced Aspergilli. In particular, was compared with the pathogenic species This suggests that can produce most of the same allergens, virulence, and pathogenicity factors as, suggesting that could be as pathogenic as Furthermore, SMs were linked to gene clusters based on biological and chemical knowledge and analysis, genome sequences, and predictive algorithms. We thus identify putative SM clusters for aflatoxin, chlorflavonin, and ochrindol in ,, and , respectively, and novofumigatonin,-cycloechinulin, and -aszonalenins in Our study delivers six fungal genomes, showing the large diversity found in the genus; highlights the potential for discovery of beneficial or harmful SMs; and supports reports of pathogenicity. It also shows how biological, biochemical, and genomic information can be combined to identify genes involved in the biosynthesis of specific SMs.

Section Flavi encompasses both harmful and beneficial Aspergillus species, such as Aspergillus oryzae, used in food fermentation and enzyme production, and Aspergillus flavus, food spoiler and mycotoxin producer. Here, we sequence 19 genomes spanning section Flavi and compare 31 fungal genomes including 23 Flavi species. We reassess their phylogenetic relationships and show that the closest relative of A. oryzae is not A. flavus, but A. minisclerotigenes or A. aflatoxiformans and identify high genome diversity, especially in sub-telomeric regions. We predict abundant CAZymes (598 per species) and prolific secondary metabolite gene clusters (73 per species) in section Flavi. However, the observed phenotypes (growth characteristics, polysaccharide degradation) do not necessarily correlate with inferences made from the predicted CAZyme content. Our work, including genomic analyses, phenotypic assays, and identification of secondary metabolites, highlights the genetic and metabolic diversity within section Flavi.

We here combine chemical analysis and genomics to probe for new bioactive secondary metabolites based on their pattern of distribution within bacterial species. We demonstrate the usefulness of this combined approach in a group of marine Gram-negative bacteria closely related to Pseudoalteromonas luteoviolacea, which is a species known to produce a broad spectrum of chemicals. The approach allowed us to identify new antibiotics and their associated biosynthetic pathways. Combining chemical analysis and genetics is an efficient “mining” workflow for identifying diverse pharmaceutical candidates in a broad range of microorganisms and therefore of great use in bioprospecting.

The fungal kingdom is too large to be discovered exclusively by classical genetics. The access to omics data opens a new opportunity to study the diversity within the fungal kingdom and how adaptation to new environments shapes fungal metabolism. Genomes are the foundation of modern science but their quality is crucial when analysing omics data. In this study, we demonstrate how one gold-standard genome can improve functional prediction across closely related species to be able to identify key enzymes, reactions and pathways with the focus on primary carbon metabolism.Based on this approach we identified alternative genes encoding various steps of the different sugar catabolic pathways, and as such provided leads for functional studies into this topic. We also revealed significant diversity with respect to genome content, although this did not always correlate to the ability of the species to use the corresponding sugar as a carbon source.

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