Comparative genomics reveals high biological diversity and specific adaptations in the industrially and medically important fungal genus Aspergillus

Abstract

BackgroundThe 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.ResultsWe 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.ConclusionsMany 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.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13059-017-1151-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Whole-genome sequencing of Aspergillus tubingensis G131 and overview of its secondary metabolism potential

“…The average length of predicted proteins is 524 amino acids (Table 1). This value is higher than the average protein length of other black Aspergilli: A. tubingensis CBS 134.48 (475aa), A. niger CBS 513.88 (442,5 aa) A. kawachii IFO 4308 (500,1 aa) [13,20,21]. In any case, those results are in agreement with Tiessen et al who have shown that average protein length in fungi is 487 aa [34].…”

“…The annotation predicts 10,994 coding genes, which is less than what is described for the other fungi from the A. niger clade: A. tubingensis CBS 134.48 (12322), A. niger CBS 513.88 (14097) and A. kawachii IFO 4308 (11475) [13,20,21]. The low number of predicted coding genes for A. tubingensis G131 could be linked to the prediction methodology.…”

“…The genome size of A. tubingensis G131 (35,18 Mb [13,20,27]. The average shared identity at a nucleic acid level was obtained with ANI calculator [28].…”

“…This genome has been compared to the recently available A. tubingensis CBS 134.48 [20], A. niger CBS 513.88 [13] and A. kawachii IFO 4308 [21]. Those strains were chosen for their industrial applications.…”

Comparative study of genome-wide plant biomass-degrading CAZymes in white rot, brown rot and soft rot fungi

“…We have selected (a) 14 popular white rot fungal strains – Ceriporiopsis subvermispora B (Fernandez-Fueyo et al 2012), Heterobasidion annosum v2.0 (Olson et al 2012), Fomitiporia mediterranea v1.0 (Floudas et al 2012), Phanerochaete carnosa HHB-10118 (Suzuki et al 2012), Pycnoporus cinnabarinus BRFM 137 (Levasseur et al 2014), Phanerochaete chrysosporium R78 v2.2 (Martinez et al 2004; Ohm et al 2014), Dichomitus squalens LYAD-421 SS1 (Floudas et al 2012), Trametes versicolor v1.0 (Floudas et al 2012), Punctularia strigosozonata v1.0 (Floudas et al 2012), Phlebia brevispora HHB-7030 SS6 (Binder et al 2013), Botrytis cinerea v1.0 (Amselem et al 2011), Pleurotus ostreatus PC15 v2.0 (Riley et al 2014; Alfaro et al 2016; Castanera et al 2016), Stereum hirsutum FP-91666 SS1 v1.0 (Floudas et al 2012), Pleurotus eryngii ATCC90797 (Guillen et al 1992; Camarero et al 1999; Ruiz‐Dueñas et al 1999; Matheny et al 2006); (b) 15 popular brown rot fungal strains – Postia placenta MAD 698-R v1.0 (Martinez et al 2009), Fibroporia radiculosa TFFH 294 (Tang et al 2012), Wolfiporia cocos MD-104 SS10 v1.0 (Floudas et al 2012), Dacryopinax primogenitus DJM 731 SSP1 v1.0 (Floudas et al 2012), Daedalea quercina v1.0 (Nagy et al 2015), Laetiporus sulphureus var v1.0 (Nagy et al 2015), Postia placenta MAD-698-R-SB12 v1.0 (Martinez et al 2009), Neolentinus lepideus v1.0 (Nagy et al 2015), Serpula lacrymans S7.9 v2.0 (Eastwood et al 2011), Calocera cornea v1.0 (Eastwood et al 2011), Gloeophyllum trabeum v1.0 (Floudas et al 2012), Fistulina hepatica v1.0 (Floudas et al 2015), Fomitopsis pinicola FP-58527 SS1 (Floudas et al 2015), Hydnomerulius pinastri v2.0 (Kohler et al 2015) and Coniophora puteana v1.0 (Kohler et al 2015); (c) 13 popular soft rot fungal strains – Trichoderma reesei v 2.0 (Martinez et al 2008), Rhizopus oryzae 99-880 from Broad (Ma et al 2009), Aspergillus wentii v1.0 (De Vries et al 2017), Penicillium chrysogenum Wisconsin 54-1255 (Van Den Berg et al 2008), Daldinia eschscholzii EC12 v1.0, Hypoxylon sp. CI-4A v1.0 (Wu et al 2017), Aspergillus niger ATCC 1015 v4.0 (Andersen et al 2011), Hypoxylon sp.…”