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Repeat induced point mutation in two asexual fungi, Aspergillus niger and Penicillium chrysogenum

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Abstract

Repeat induced point mutation (RIP) is a gene silencing mechanism present in fungal genomes. During RIP, duplicated sequences are efficiently and irreversibly mutated by transitions from C:G to T:A. For the first time, we have identified traces of RIP in transposable elements of Aspergillus niger and Penicillium chrysogenum, two biotechnologically relevant fungi. We found that RIP in P. chrysogenum has affected a large set of sequences, which also contain other mutations. On the other hand, RIP in A. niger is limited to only few sequences, but literally all mutations are RIP-like. Surprisingly, RIP occurred only in transposon sequences that have disrupted open reading frames in A. niger, a phenomenon not yet reported for other fungi. In both fungal species, we identified two sequences with strong sequence similarity to Neurospora crassa RID. RID is a putative DNA methyltransferase and the only known enzyme involved in the RIP process. Our findings suggest that both A. niger and P. chrysogenum either had a sexual past or have a sexual potential. These findings have important implications for future strain development of these fungi.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Abteilung Botanik mit Schwerpunkt Genetik und Molekularbiologie, Botanisches Institut und Botanischer Garten, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Olshausenstraße 40, 24098, Kiel, Germany

    Ilka Braumann & Frank Kempken

  2. DSM Anti-Infectives (624-0270), 2613 AX, Delft, The Netherlands

    Marco van den Berg

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  1. Ilka Braumann
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  2. Marco van den Berg
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  3. Frank Kempken
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Correspondence to Frank Kempken.

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Communicated by A. Brakhage.

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Braumann, I., van den Berg, M. & Kempken, F. Repeat induced point mutation in two asexual fungi, Aspergillus niger and Penicillium chrysogenum . Curr Genet 53, 287–297 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00294-008-0185-y

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