Thermoascus is a genus of soil fungi in the family Trichocomaceae. Species in the genus are characterized by the production of heat-resistant ascospores. Thermoascus was circumscribed by German botanist Hugo Miehe in 1907.[1]

Thermoascus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Ascomycota
Class: Eurotiomycetes
Order: Eurotiales
Family: Thermoascaceae
Genus: Thermoascus
Bainier (1907)
Type species
Thermoascus aurantiacus
Miehe (1907)
Species

T. aegyptiacus
T. aurantiacus
T. crustaceus
T. taitungiacus
T. thermophilus
T. verrucosus
T. yaguchii

The type species, Thermoascus aurantiacus, is of research interest because it secretes heat-resistant hydrolase enzymes that could possibly be used in biotechnological applications, such as the conversion of biomass to biofuels.[2] Genetic tools have been developed to genetically edit Thermoascus aurantiacus, such as an Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation protocol and a CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing system, which have been used to overexpress genes that correspond to production of enzymes that break down plant matter and inactivate genes.[3]

Species

edit

Another described species, Thermoascus isatschenkoi Malchevskaya (1939),[8] is considered doubtful due to a lack of examinable material and an incomprehensive description.[9]

References

edit
  1. ^ a b Miehe H (1907). Die Selbsterhitzung Des Heus: Eine Biologische Studie (in German). Jena: Gustav Fischer. p. 70.
  2. ^ McClendon SD, Batth T, Petzold CJ, Adams PD, Simmons BA, Singer SW (July 2012). "Thermoascus aurantiacus is a promising source of enzymes for biomass deconstruction under thermophilic conditions". Biotechnology for Biofuels. 5 (1): 54. doi:10.1186/1754-6834-5-54. PMC 3507748. PMID 22839529.
  3. ^ Gabriel R, Prinz J, Jecmenica M, Romero-Vazquez C, Chou P, Harth S, et al. (2020-10-10). "Development of genetic tools for the thermophilic filamentous fungus Thermoascus aurantiacus". Biotechnology for Biofuels. 13 (1): 167. doi:10.1186/s13068-020-01804-x. PMC 7547499. PMID 33062053.
  4. ^ Ueda S, Udagawa SI (1983). "Thermoascus aegyptiacus, a new thermophilic Ascomycete". Transactions of the Mycological Society of Japan. 24: 135–142.
  5. ^ Stolk AC (1965). "Thermophilic species of Talaromyces Benjamin and Thermoascus Miehe". Antonie van Leeuwenhoek. 31 (3): 262–76. doi:10.1007/bf02045906. PMID 5294506. S2CID 34464849.
  6. ^ Chen KY, Chen ZC (1996). "A new species of Thermoascus with a Paecilomyces anamorph and other thermophilic Thermoascus species from Taiwan". Mycotaxon. 60: 225–240.
  7. ^ von Arx JA (1970). "The Genera of Fungi Sporulating in Pure Culture". Lehre: J. Cramer: 84. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  8. ^ Page Thermoascus isatschenkoi on "Mycobank". Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute. Retrieved 2023-09-06.
  9. ^ Houbraken J, Kocsubé S, Visagie CM, Yulmaz N, Wang XC, Meijer M, Kraak B, Hubka V, Bensch K, Samson RA, Frisvad JC (2020). "Classification of Aspergillus, Penicillium, Talaromyces and related genera (Eurotiales): An overview of families, genera, subgenera, sections, series and species". Studies in Mycology. 95: 5–169. doi:10.1016/j.simyco.2020.05.002. PMC 7426331. PMID 32855739.