Aspergillus Nidulans

As fungus infections and antifungal resistance lead to increased morbidity and mortality, the need to discover more effective antifungal drugs becomes urgent. As a leading company in this field, Creative Biolabs has successfully completed a series of antifungal drug discovery programs to accelerate the development of global customers’ projects. Now, we are able to exploit new drug candidates target different targets for the treatment of fungus infection caused by Aspergillus Nidulans (A. Nidulans).

Introduction of A. Nidulans

A. Nidulans, also known as Emericella nidulans, is a member of Aspergilli in the phylum Ascomycota. Unlike other Aspergilli which are asexual, A. nidulans has a well-characterized sexual cycle and thus a well-developed genetics system. It undergoes DNA-mediated transformation, and genes from other Aspergilli as well as some mammalian genes function in A. Nidulans. Generally, A. nidulans is not common in foods, and has not been implicated in actual spoilage, but has been isolated from a wide variety of sources. The most common reports are from cereals and cereal products (wheat, flour and bread, barley, rice, maize, and sorghum), nuts (peanuts, hazelnuts), dried beans and spices.

Fig.1 Aspergillus nidulans life cycle. (Noble, 2013)

Pathogenesis of A. Nidulans

During the past years, much less attention had been given to A. Nidulans as an opportunistic pathogen in humans. However, A. Nidulans has been recognized as a major cause of invasive aspergillosis (IA) especially in patients with chronic granulomatous disease (CGD). It has been reported that in the CGD host, the absence of a functional NADPH-oxidase complex has both an impact on displaying an efficient antimicrobial effect as well as a controlled inflammatory response. However, the defective NADPH-oxidase results in an impaired direct antimicrobial function but cannot explain the etiology of A. Nidulans infections in CGD patients.

Antifungal Drugs against A. Nidulans

In the past decades, numerous antifungal drugs have been developed for the treatment of multiple fungus infections. A. Nidulans has already been used as a perfect model system to investigate antifungal resistance as it has a tractable sexual cycle. Furthermore, studies have shown that patients infected with A. Nidulans usually manifest a strong drug resistance. However, specific antifungal drugs that aim to treat A. Nidulans infection have not been developed yet. Therefore, it is an urgent need to exploit more effective antifungal drugs for the treatment of A. Nidulans infection.

Features of our Services

Having worked in the field for many years, Creative Biolabs has successfully developed multiple advanced technology platforms for antifungal drug discovery. We are happy to share our rich experience to meet every client’s goal using our drug discovery package services, which including but not limited to target identification and validation, hit identification, and hit to lead. Moreover, the services we provided are characterized by:

• Top technology platform with a professional technical team
• High-quality service with fast turnaround time
• Standard operation with optimal data

Besides A. Nidulans, we also provide antifungal drug discovery services against other pathogens that can also cause human infections, which including but not limited to A. Fumigates, A. Flavus, A. Terreus, and A. Niger. For more detailed information, please feel free to contact us.

Reference

1. Noble, L.M.; Andrianopoulos, A. Reproductive competence: a recurrent logic module in eukaryotic development. Proc. R. Soc. B. 2013, 280(1766): 20130819.

For Research Use Only.