An evolutionary genomic approach reveals both conserved and species-specific genetic elements related to human disease in closely related Aspergillus fungi.

ABSTRACT: Aspergillosis is an important opportunistic human disease caused by filamentous fungi in the genus Aspergillus. Roughly 70% of infections are caused by Aspergillus fumigatus, with the rest stemming from approximately a dozen other Aspergillus species. Several of these pathogens are closely related to A. fumigatus and belong in the same taxonomic section, section Fumigati. Pathogenic species are frequently most closely related to nonpathogenic ones, suggesting Aspergillus pathogenicity evolved multiple times independently. To understand the repeated evolution of Aspergillus pathogenicity, we performed comparative genomic analyses on 18 strains from 13 species, including 8 species in section Fumigati, which aimed to identify genes, both ones previously connected to virulence as well as ones

SUBMITTER: Mead ME 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8225353 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature