Fungal chitin synthases are classified into seven classes. Recent advances in genome sequence analyses have revealed that there are more than seven chitin synthase-encoding genes in the genome of filamentous ascomycete fungi. To clarify the functional differences among these genes in the morphogenesis and hyphal tip growth, we have cloned six chitin synthase-encoding genes from Aspergillus nidu...

The Aspergillus nidulans stcP gene was previously identified as a transcribed region associated with a cluster of genes proposed to be involved in sterigmatocystin biosynthesis (D. W. Brown, J.-H. Yu, H. S. Kelkar, M. Fernandes, T. C. Nesbitt, N. P. Keller, T. H. Adams, and T. J. Leonard, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 93:1418-1422, 1996). stcP was predicted to encode a methyltransferase responsibl...

Mutants of Aspergillus nidulans resistant to methylammonium toxicity are simultaneously derepressed in the presence of ammonium for apparently all ammonium-repressible activities. Enzyme assays directly demonstrate derepression of nitrate, nitrite, and hydroxylamine reductases, xanthine dehydrogenase, urate oxidase, and allantoinase, whereas in vivo tests show that ammonium and methylammonium r...

The aim of this present investigation is to isolate, screen and identify hydrocarbon degrading fungi from oil contaminated soil of Modha Para automobiles of Raipur, C.G. During this study, nine pure fungal isolates were obtained through serial dilution of soil in potato dextrose agar. Primary screening tests were done to evaluate the growth diameter of fungal colonies on minimal salt media supp...

The formation of mitotically derived spores, called conidia, is a common reproductive mode in filamentous fungi, particularly among the large fungal class Ascomycetes. Asexual sporulation strategies are nearly as varied as fungal species; however, the formation of conidiophores, specialized multicellular reproductive structures, by the filamentous fungus Aspergillus nidulans has emerged as the ...

l-Glutamate uptake, thiourea uptake, and methylammonium uptake and the intracellular ammonium concentration were measured in wild-type and mutant cells of Aspergillus nidulans held in various concentrations of ammonium and urea. The levels of l-glutamate uptake, thiourea uptake, nitrate reductase, and hypoxanthine dehydrogenase activity are determined by the extracellular ammonium concentration...

The areA gene of Aspergillus oryzae was cloned by cross-hybridization with the Aspergillus nidulans areA gene and was found to encode an 866-amino-acid protein that is very similar to other fungal nitrogen regulatory proteins. The A. oryzae areA gene can complement A. nidulans areA loss-of-function mutations. Functional analyses indicated that the N-terminal region of the A. oryzae AreA protein...

The lack of an experimentally amenable sexual genetic system in Aspergillus fumigatus is a major limitation in the study of the organism's pathogenesis. A recent comparative genome analysis revealed evidence for potential sexuality in A. fumigatus. Homologs of mating type genes as well as other genes of the "sexual machinery" have been identified in anamorphic A. fumigatus. The mat1-2 gene enco...

Filamentous fungi form multicellular hyphae that are partitioned by septa. In A. nidulans, septum formation requires the assembly of a septal band following the completion of mitosis. Recent observations show that this band is a dynamic structure composed of actin, a septin and a formin. In addition, assembly is dependent upon a conserved protein kinase cascade that regulates mitotic exit and s...

The formation of hyphae that grow solely by apical extension is a defining feature of filamentous fungi. Hyphal morphogenesis involves several key steps, including the establishment and maintenance of a stable polarity axis, as well as cell division via the deposition of septa. Several filamentous fungi have been employed in attempts to decipher the mechanisms underlying these steps. Amongst th...