''Penicillium chrysogenum'' (formerly known as ''Penicillium notatum'') is a species of fungus in the genus ''

Penicillium ''Penicillium'' () is a genus of ascomycetous fungi that is part of the mycobiome of many species and is of major importance in the natural environment, in food spoilage, and in food and drug production. Some members of the genus produce ...

''. It is common in

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout t ...

and subtropical regions and can be found on salted food products, but it is mostly found in indoor environments, especially in damp or water-damaged buildings. It has been recognised as a species complex that includes ''P. notatum'', ''P. meleagrinum,'' and ''P. cyaneofulvum,'' but molecular phylogeny established that it is a distinct species and that ''P. notatum'' (its popular synonym) is '' P. rubens.'' It has rarely been reported as a cause of human

disease A disease is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism, and that is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that a ...

. It is the source of several β-lactam antibiotics, most significantly

penicillin Penicillins (P, PCN or PEN) are a group of β-lactam antibiotics originally obtained from ''Penicillium'' moulds, principally '' P. chrysogenum'' and '' P. rubens''. Most penicillins in clinical use are synthesised by P. chrysogenum using ...

. Other secondary metabolites of ''P. chrysogenum'' include roquefortine C, meleagrin, chrysogine, 6-MSA YWA1/melanin, andrastatin A, fungisporin, secalonic acids, sorbicillin, and PR-toxin. Like the many other species of the genus ''

'', ''P. chrysogenum'' usually reproduces by forming dry chains of spores (or conidia) from brush-shaped conidiophores. The conidia are typically carried by air currents to new colonisation sites. In ''P. chrysogenum'', the conidia are blue to blue-green, and the mold sometimes exudes a yellow pigment. However, ''P. chrysogenum'' cannot be identified based on colour alone. Observations of morphology and microscopic features are needed to confirm its identity and DNA sequencing is essential to distinguish it from closely related species such as ''P. rubens''. The sexual stage of ''P. chrysogenum'' was discovered in 2013 by mating cultures in the dark on oatmeal agar supplemented with biotin, after the mating types (MAT1-1 or MAT1-2) of the strains had been determined using PCR amplification. The airborne asexual spores of ''P. chrysogenum'' are important human allergens. Vacuolar and alkaline serine proteases have been implicated as the major allergenic proteins. ''P. chrysogenum'' has been used industrially to produce penicillin and xanthocillin X, to treat pulp mill waste, and to produce the enzymes polyamine oxidase, phosphogluconate dehydrogenase, and glucose oxidase.

Science

The discovery of

ushered in a new age of antibiotics derived from microorganisms. Penicillin is an antibiotic isolated from growing ''Penicillium'' mold in a fermenter. The mold is grown in a liquid culture containing sugar and other nutrients including a source of

nitrogen Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at seve ...

. As the mold grows, it uses up the sugar and starts to make penicillin only after using up most of the nutrients for growth.

History

Genetics and evolution

The ability to produce penicillin appears to have evolved over millions of years, and is shared with several other related fungi. It is believed to confer a selective advantage during competition with bacteria for food sources. Some bacteria have consequently developed the counter-ability to survive penicillin exposure by producing penicillinases, enzymes that degrade penicillin. Penicillinase production is one mechanism by which bacteria can become penicillin resistant. The principal genes responsible for producing penicillin, ''pcbAB'', ''pcbC'', and ''penDE'' are closely linked, forming a cluster on chromosome I. Some high-producing ''Penicillium chrysogenum'' strains used for the industrial production of penicillin contain multiple tandem copies of the penicillin gene cluster. Similar to other filamentous fungi, CRISPR/Cas9-based genome editing techniques are available for editing the genome of ''Penicillium chrysogenum''.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q137155 Fungi described in 1910 chrysogenum Medicinal fungi Taxa named by Charles Thom