Genetic analysis in the asexual fungus Aspergillus niger

The genetics of A. niger has been developed since 1980. An overview is pres ented of the advances in developing methods and collecting data. Important tools have been a) the application of essentially different methods to isol ate mutants, b) the adaptation to A. niger of A. nidulans methodology for a nalysis of the parasexual cycle, c) the choice of marker genes, and in some cases the artificial introduction of such genes, to select homozygous segr egants arising from mitotic recombination. With the use of parasexual recom bination, a genetic linkage map of A. niger has been established. In total, 110 nuclear and 1 cytoplasmic (mitochondrial) markers are available. The a pplication of A. niger genetics in applied research is illustrated by examp les.