Description

Abstract: Unsaturated fatty acids are important constituents of all cell membranes and are required for normal growth. In the filamentous fungus Aspergillusnidulans, unsaturated fatty acids and their derivatives also influence asexual (conidial) and sexual (ascospore) sporulation processes. To investigate the relationship between fatty acid metabolism and fungal development, we disrupted the A. nidulans sdeA and sdeB genes, both encoding ?9-stearicaciddesaturases responsible for the conversion of palmitic acid (16:0) and stearicacid (18:0) to palmitoleic acid (16:1) and oleic acid (18:1). The effects of sdeA deletion on development were profound, such that growth, conidial and ascospore production were all reduced at 22 and 37