Genetic Engineering of the Rock Inhabitant Knufia petricola Provides Insight Into the Biology of Extremotolerant Black Fungi.

ABSTRACT: Black microcolonial fungi (Ascomycetes from Arthonio-, Dothideo-, and Eurotiomycetes) are stress-tolerant and persistent dwellers of natural and anthropogenic extreme habitats. They exhibit slow yeast-like or meristematic growth, do not form specialized reproduction structures and accumulate the black pigment 1,8-dihydroxynaphthalene (DHN) melanin in the multilayered cell walls. To understand how black fungi live, survive, colonize mineral substrates, and interact with phototrophs genetic methods are needed to test these functions and interactions. We chose the rock inhabitant Knufia petricola of the Chaetothyriales as a model for developing methods for genetic manipulation. Here, we report on the expansion of the genetic toolkit by more efficient multiplex CRISPR/Cas9 using a plasm

SUBMITTER: Erdmann EA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10512386 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature