Abstract

Aspergillus fumigatus, the major etiologic agent of invasive aspergillosis, is a bipolar heterothallic species that produces teleomorphs belonging to the genus Neosartorya. Unlike A. fischeri and other sexual species phylogenetically related to A. fumigatus, the discovery of a sexual state in A. fumigatus was unduly delayed due to its requirement of extraordinarily fastidious environmental conditions for the completion of the sexual life cycle compounded with low fertility of the species. A wide range in the degree of fertility and duration required for completion of the sexual

life cycle appear to exist among clinical as well as environmental isolates. Discovery and characterization of a pair of opposite mating type strains with high fertility that could produce viable ascospores is urgently needed as a tool of recombinational analysis.

Keywords

Aspergillus fumigatus Heterothallism Genetic Recombination

KJMM 2011 September;16(3):83-85(3). Epub 2016 February 17
Copyright © 2011 by Korean Journal of Medical Mycology

Language

English

Author

K. J. Kwon-Chung; Molecular Microbiology Section, Laboratory of Clinical Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892
J. A. Sugui; Molecular Microbiology Section, Laboratory of Clinical Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892

Corresponding

K. J. Kwon-Chung, Ph.D., Bldg. 10, 11N234, NIH Bethesda, MD 20892. Tel: 1-301-496-1602, Fax: 1-301-480-3240, e-mail: June_Kwon-Chung@nih.gov

Publication history

Received 14 June 2011;

Acknowledgements

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

K. J. Kwon-Chung

Molecular Microbiology Section, Laboratory of Clinical Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892

J. A. Sugui

Molecular Microbiology Section, Laboratory of Clinical Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892

Since epub date 2016 February 17