Me. Mostafa, PROGESTERONE TRANSFORMATION AS A DIAGNOSTIC FEATURE IN THE CLASSIFICATION OF THE ASPERGILLUS-NIGER GROUP, Letters in applied microbiology, 20(4), 1995, pp. 243-246
Fifty-five isolates of nine species and two species varieties (5 isola
tes each) of the Aspergillus niger group were tested for progesterone
transformation. Generally, all isolates of the different species trans
formed progesterone to 21-hydroxyprogesterone. In addition, the isolat
es of seven species have the capacity to hydroxylate progesterone to 1
1 alpha-hydroxyprogesterone. A systematic variation could be observed
between the tested species of the Aspergillus niger group with respect
to the transformation reactions of progesterone. Comparative biotrans
formation results showed that essential differences exist between the
species of this group, where the different isolates of individual spec
ies always produce one or more identical products. This biochemical di
fferentiation may supplement the morphological criteria used in the cl
assification of this group of fungi.