ArticleNature2009
Discovery of a sexual cycle in the opportunistic fungal pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus.
Article in Nature, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 207 papers.
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Who cites it
207 citing papers in PubMed, 532 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Parasex generates highly recombinant progeny in Candida albicans with increased virulence.Nature microbiology · 2026Article
- PCR Typing and Genome Sequencing of Aspergillus fumigatus.Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2026Article
- NativeFrontiers in microbiology · 2026Article
- Sexual reproduction and the polygenic architecture of azole resistance in agricultural populations ofFrontiers in microbiology · 2026Article
- Aspergillus fumigatus biology, immunopathogenicity and drug resistance.Nature reviews. Microbiology · 2025Review
- Identification of quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for key cheese making phenotypes in the blue-cheese mold Penicillium roqueforti.PLoS genetics · 2025Article
- Recent developments inMicrobiology and molecular biology reviews : MMBR · 2025Review
- Regulation of meiotic gene expression is functional in the human fungal pathogen Candida glabrata.FEMS yeast research · 2025Article
- Comprehensive Review of Environmental Surveillance for Azole-ResistantJournal of fungi (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
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- Protease and chitinase activity ofFrontiers in microbiology · 2025Article
- Research advances and public health strategies in China on WHO priority fungal pathogens.Mycology · 2025Review
- Elevated mutation rates in multi-azole resistant Aspergillus fumigatus drive rapid evolution of antifungal resistance.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Article
- Article
147 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Aspergillus fumigatus is a saprotrophic fungus whose spores are ubiquitous in the atmosphere. It is also an opportunistic human pathogen in immunocompromised individuals, causing potentially lethal invasive infections, and is associated with severe asthma and sinusitis. The species is only known to reproduce by asexual means, but there has been accumulating evidence for recombination and gene flow from population genetic studies, genome analysis, the presence of mating-type genes and expression of sex-related genes in the fungus. Here we show that A. fumigatus possesses a fully functional sexual reproductive cycle that leads to the production of cleistothecia and ascospores, and the teleomorph Neosartorya fumigata is described. The species has a heterothallic breeding system; isolates of complementary mating types are required for sex to occur. We demonstrate increased genotypic variation resulting from recombination between mating type and DNA fingerprint markers in ascospore progeny from an Irish environmental subpopulation. The ability of A. fumigatus to engage in sexual reproduction is highly significant in understanding the biology and evolution of the species. The presence of a sexual cycle provides an invaluable tool for classical genetic analyses and will facilitate research into the genetic basis of pathogenicity and fungicide resistance in A. fumigatus, with the aim of improving methods for the control of aspergillosis. These results also yield insights into the potential for sexual reproduction in other supposedly 'asexual' fungi.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.