Conidia are asexual spores and play a crucial role in fungal dissemination. Conidial pigmentation is important for tolerance against UV radiation and contributes to survival of fungi. The molecular basis of conidial pigmentation has been studied in several fungal species. In spite of sharing the initial common step of polyketide formation, other steps for pigment biosynthesis appear to be species-dependent. In this study, we isolated an Aspergillus flavus spontaneous mutant that produced yellow conidia. The underlying genetic defect, a three-nucleotide in-frame deletion in the gene, AFLA_051390, that encodes a copper-transporting ATPase, was identified by a comparative genomics approach. This genetic association was confirmed by disruption of the wild-type gene. When yellow mutants were grown on medium supplemented with copper ions or chloride ions, green conidial color was partially and nearly completely restored, respectively. Further disruption of AFLA_045660, an orthologue of Aspergillus nidulans yA (yellow pigment) that encodes a multicopper oxidase, in wild type and a derived strain producing dark green conidia showed that it yielded mutants that produced gold conidia. The results placed formation of the gold pigment after that of the yellow pigment and before that of the dark green pigment. Using reported inhibitors of DHN-melanin (tricyclazole and phthalide) and DOPA-melanin (tropolone and kojic acid) pathways on a set of conidial color mutants, we investigated the involvement of melanin biosynthesis in A. flavus conidial pigment formation. Results imply that both pathways have no bearing on conidial pigment biosynthesis of A. flavus.
Keywords: Aspergillus flavus; Comparative genomics; Conidial pigment; Copper-transporting ATPase; Melanin pathway inhibitors.