Genomics of the first 100 Aspergilli

Aspergillus is a ubiquitous and phenotypically diverse genus of filamentous Ascomycota, many of which play key roles as fermenters in food production, platforms for biotechnology and industrial production of enzymes and chemicals, plant and opportunistic animal pathogens, and agents of agricultural toxigenesis and biomass conversion for bioenergy. As part of a Joint BioEnergy Institute initiative to characterize the entire genus, the Joint Genome Institute will sequence, assemble, and annotate the genomes of each of the ~300 species of the genus Aspergillus. To accomplish this massive task in a timely manner without sacrificing quality, we streamlined and optimized our processes for Aspergillus genomes. Over the past year we have released on MycoCosm the genomes of 100 Aspergillus sp. which represent a broad spectrum of phylogenetic diversity and gene content, including significant variability of transporters, carbohydrate-active enzymes, proteases, and secondary metabolism clusters. The high resolution of genomic differences between closely related species is being mapped to their distinctive phenotypes to improve gene annotation in the entire genus. The next 100 species are expected soon.