On the lineage of Aspergillus fumigatus isolates in common laboratory use

Abstract

The origin of isolates routinely used by the community of Aspergillus fumigatus researchers is periodically a matter of intense discussion at our centre, as the construction of recombinant isolates have sometimes followed convoluted routes, the documentation describing their lineages is fragmented, and the nomenclature is confusing. As an aide memoir, not least for our own benefit, we submit the following account and tabulated list of strains (Table 1) in an effort to collate all of the relevant information in a single, easily accessible document. To maximise the accuracy of this record we have consulted widely amongst the community of Medical Mycologists using these strains. All the strains described are currently available from one of these organisations, namely the Fungal Genetics Stock Centre (FGSC), FungiDB, Ensembl Fungi and The National Collection of Pathogenic Fungi (NCPF) at Public Health England. Display items from this manuscript are also featured on FungiDB. Lay abstract We present a concise overview on the definition, origin and unique genetic makeup of the Aspergillus fumigatus isolates routinely in use by the fungal research community, to aid researchers to describe past and new strains and the experimental differences observed more accurately.

Aspergillus fumigatus, One Uninucleate Species with Disparate Offspring

“…The A. fumigatus strain used in this study was CEA17ΔakuBKU80, which originated from the clinical isolate CBS 144–89 [ 11 , 12 ]. This strain was maintained on 2% malt-agar slants at ambient temperature.…”

Development of a marker-free mutagenesis system using CRISPR-Cas9 in the pathogenic mould Aspergillus fumigatus

“…A. fumigatus strains wild-type strains Af293 and CEA10 along with MFIG001, a member of the CEA10 laboratory lineage lacking a functional ku80 gene, were used as the parental isolates for the transformations ( Bertuzzi et al, 2020 , Furukawa et al, 2020 ). Where the hygromycin resistance cassette was used as a selectable marker, it was amplified from the pAN7.1 plasmid (available from the Fungal Genetics Stock Centre) using primers detailed in the results section and Table S1.…”

Genomic and phenotypic analysis of COVID-19-associated pulmonary aspergillosis isolates of Aspergillus fumigatus

“…Examination of virulence and virulence-related traits revealed the CAPA isolates often, but not always, had similar phenotypic profiles compared to reference A. fumigatus strains Af293 and CEA17 (which is a pyrG mutant derived from the reference strain A1163 (Bertuzzi et al, 2020)). For example, virulence in the Galleria moth model of fungal disease revealed strain heterogeneity among CAPA isolates, Af293, and CEA17 (p < 0.001; log-rank test; Figure 4A).…”

“…Examination of virulence and virulence-related traits revealed the CAPA isolates often, but not always, had similar phenotypic profiles compared to reference A. fumigatus strains Af293 and CEA17 (which is a pyrG mutant derived from the reference strain A1163 (Bertuzzi et al, 2020)).…”