nidulans

Nidulans refers to the filamentous fungus most commonly known as Aspergillus nidulans, a member of the genus Aspergillus in the phylum Ascomycota. It is a well-established model organism in genetics and molecular biology due to its rapid growth, tractable genetics, and extensive molecular tools. The organism’s sexual stage is described as Emericella nidulans, while the asexual form is typically called Aspergillus nidulans.

It is found worldwide in soil and decaying vegetation and can occur as a contaminant in stored plant materials and indoor environments. As a saprotroph, it thrives on a range of carbon sources under moderate temperatures and humidity. It forms distinctive conidiophores that produce conidia, enabling straightforward genetic selection and phenotypic analysis.

Genetically, A. nidulans has a long history as a model organism for fungal biology and has a fully sequenced genome. It offers a well-developed set of molecular tools, including gene disruption, transformation, and epistasis analysis. The velvet complex, comprising VeA, LaeA, and VelB proteins, coordinates fungal development and secondary metabolism, including the production of sterigmatocystin, a precursor to aflatoxins in related species.

A. nidulans has contributed broadly to the understanding of meiosis, mitosis, gene regulation, and chromosomal behavior in fungi. It remains a standard teaching organism and a research system for studying fungal differentiation, metabolism, and genome organization. Safety considerations are noted in laboratory contexts due to its capacity to produce mycotoxins under certain conditions.