Ashbya gossypii

From MicrobeWiki, the student-edited microbiology resource

Classification

Higher Order Taxa:

Fungi, Ascomycota, Saccharomycetes, Saccharomycetales, Saccharomycetaceae

Species:

A. gossypii

Description and Significance

Fungus Ashbya gossypii. Nuclei are shown in green. Jaspersen Lab, 2007.

Ashbya gossypii (Eremothecium gossypii) is a filamentous fungus, meaning that it is an infectious agent of the fungus kingdom consisting of a long series of attached cells. It is closely related to unicellular yeasts, especially Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a yeast with which it shares more than 90% of its genome.


Ashbya gossypii is an effective fungus in which to study the growth of long and multinucleate (more than one nucleus) fungal cells. It has a small genome, haploid nuclei, and efficient gene targeting methods, characteristics that make it favorable in studies.







Genome Structure

A comparison of the genomes for Ashbya gossypii and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Nature Publishing Group 2013.

The genome for Ashbya gossypii is the smallest genome of a free-living eukaryote thus far, coming up to only 9.2 megabases. It contains a total of 4718 protein-coding genes. As mentioned above, more than 90% of its genes are similar to that of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The comparison of these genes reveals shared homology and synteny (the condition of two or more genes being located on the same chromosome) between the two species.





Cell Structure and Metabolism


Ecology


Pathology


References

  • Jaspersen Lab, 2007. "Sue Jasperseon, Ph.D, Profile." Stowers Institute for Medical Research.
  • Wikipedia Article "A. gossypii," March 2013. "Ashbya gossypii."
  • Ashbya Genome Database, September 2013. "Ashbya gossypii." EnsemblFungi.