Laboratory of Biology, Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of The Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Manuel de Lardizabal, 3, 20018, San Sebastian, Spain.
Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas (CSIC), Ramiro de Maeztu 9, 28040, Madrid, Spain.
Int Microbiol. 2020 Jan;23(1):5-22. doi: 10.1007/s10123-019-00064-6. Epub 2019 Feb 20.
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 65 years 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.
下一代测序（NGS）技术的普及使得能够对来自所有生物界的数百个物种的基因组进行测序。在真菌方面，已经有超过一千个物种的基因组可供公开使用。虽然这远远没有涵盖估计在世界上存在的 220 万至 380 万种真菌，但它极大地提高了真菌系统发育树的分辨率。此外，它还促进了系统进化分析、更快更准确的致病性菌株诊断分析的发展，或改善了几种生物技术过程。然而，作为模型使用的真菌物种多样性的增加，也削弱了在基因组时代之前曾被传统用作参考的其他物种的研究。在这种背景下，自 Pontecorvo 首次发表作品以来已经过去了 65 多年，而 Aspergillus nidulans 仍然是丝状真菌中最具参考价值的模型之一，在菌丝形态发生、细胞内运输、发育程序、次生代谢或应激反应等研究领域中具有重要地位。本文综述了在过去几年中，A. nidulans 如何为这些领域的进展做出贡献，并讨论了借助 NGS 和新一代分子、显微镜或细胞工具，它将如何在未来做出贡献。
