Aspergillus nidulans in the post-genomic era: a top-model filamentous fungus for the study of signaling and homeostasis mechanisms

Abstract

The accessibility to next-generation sequencing (NGS) techniques has enabled the sequencing of hundreds of genomes of species representing all kingdoms. In the case of fungi, genomes of more than a thousand of species are publicly available. This is far from covering the number of 2.2-3.8 million fungal species estimated to populate the world but has significantly improved the resolution of the fungal tree of life. Furthermore, it has boosted systematic evolutionary analyses, the development of faster and more accurate diagnostic analyses of pathogenic strains or the improvement of several biotechnological processes. Nevertheless, the diversification of the nature of fungal species used as model has also weakened research in other species that were traditionally used as reference in the pre-genomic era. In this context, and after more than 65years since the first works published by Pontecorvo, Aspergillus nidulans remains as one of the most referential model filamentous fungus in research fields such as hyphal morphogenesis, intracellular transport, developmental programs, secondary metabolism, or stress response. This mini-review summarizes how A. nidulans has contributed to the progress in these fields during the last years, and discusses how it could contribute in the future, assisted by NGS and new-generation molecular, microscopy, or cellular tools.