Fungal genomics: Organic acid production and secondary metabolism

Fungi of the genus Aspergillus are well known as producers of both organic acids and polyketides. Aspergillus carbonarius is closely related to Aspergillus niger, an important model organism as well as an industrial enzyme and citric acid producer. Aspergillus carbonarius is also an economically significant organism as the main agent of ochratoxin A contamination of wine. We have characterized the putative ochratoxin A biosynthetic cluster and have initiated manual annotation of the draft genome sequence. While A. niger has been recently shown to produce fumonisin B2, the biosynthetic cluster for fumonisin biosynthesis is absent from the A. carbonarius genome. We have also examined ESTs from A. terreus, a producer of itaconic acid. Analysis of the ESTs has led to the discovery a gene cluster involved in itaconic acid production.