title: Genome sequence of Aspergillus luchuensis NBRC 4314.
abstract: Awamori is a traditional distilled beverage made from steamed Thai-Indica rice in Okinawa, Japan. For brewing the liquor, two microbes, local kuro (black) koji mold Aspergillus luchuensis and awamori yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae are involved. In contrast, that yeasts are used for ethanol fermentation throughout the world, a characteristic of Japanese fermentation industries is the use of Aspergillus molds as a source of enzymes for the maceration and saccharification of raw materials. Here we report the draft genome of a kuro (black) koji mold, A. luchuensis NBRC 4314 (RIB 2604). The total length of nonredundant sequences was nearly 34.7 Mb, comprising approximately 2,300 contigs with 16 telomere-like sequences. In total, 11,691 genes were predicted to encode proteins. Most of the housekeeping genes, such as transcription factors and N-and O-glycosylation system, were conserved with respect to Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus oryzae An alternative oxidase and acid-stable α-amylase regarding citric acid production and fermentation at a low pH as well as a unique glutamic peptidase were also found in the genome. Furthermore, key biosynthetic gene clusters of ochratoxin A and fumonisin B were absent when compared with A. niger genome, showing the safety of A. luchuensis for food and beverage production. This genome information will facilitate not only comparative genomics with industrial kuro-koji molds, but also molecular breeding of the molds in improvements of awamori fermentation.
authors.affiliation: National Research Institute of Brewing, Higashi-hiroshima, Hiroshima 739-0046, Japan yamada@nrib.go.jp.
authors.forename: Osamu
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.affiliation: Institute for Biological Resources and Functions, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, AIST, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8566, Japan.
authors.forename: Masayuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Machida
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Technology and Evaluation, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 151-0066, Japan.
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hosoyama
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Agriculture, Saga University, Saga 840-8502, Japan.
authors.forename: Masatoshi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Goto
authors.affiliation: National Research Institute of Brewing, Higashi-hiroshima, Hiroshima 739-0046, Japan.
authors.forename: Toru
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Agriculture, Kagoshima University, Kagoshima, 890-0065, Japan.
authors.forename: Taiki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Futagami
authors.affiliation: Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Fuchu, Tokyo 183-0054, Japan.
authors.forename: Youhei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yamagata
authors.affiliation: Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Fuchu, Tokyo 183-0054, Japan.
authors.forename: Michio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takeuchi
authors.affiliation: Nagoya University, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8601, Japan.
authors.forename: Tetsuo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
authors.affiliation: Institute for Biological Resources and Functions, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, AIST, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8566, Japan.
authors.forename: Hideaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Koike
authors.affiliation: Tohoku University, Aoba-ku, Sendai 981-8555, Japan.
authors.forename: Keietsu
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Abe
authors.affiliation: Computational Biology Research Center, AIST, Koto-ku, Tokyo 135-0064, Japan.
authors.forename: Kiyoshi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Asai
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Genetics, Mishima, Shizuoka 411-8540, Japan.
authors.forename: Masanori
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Arita
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Technology and Evaluation, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 151-0066, Japan.
authors.forename: Nobuyuki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Fujita
authors.affiliation: Asahi Breweries, LTD, Sumida-ku, Tokyo 130-8602, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazuro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fukuda
authors.affiliation: Industrial Technology Center, Okinawa Prefectural Government, Uruma, Okinawa 904-2234, Japan.
authors.forename: Ken-Ichi
authors.initials: KI
authors.lastname: Higa
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Technology and Evaluation, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 151-0066, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Horikawa
authors.affiliation: Brewing Society of Japan, Kita-ku, Tokyo 114-0023, Japan.
authors.forename: Takeaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ishikawa
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Technology and Evaluation, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 151-0066, Japan.
authors.forename: Koji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Jinno
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Technology and Evaluation, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 151-0066, Japan.
authors.forename: Yumiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kato
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Chemistry, Waseda University, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 169-8555, Japan.
authors.forename: Kohtaro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kirimura
authors.affiliation: National Research Institute of Brewing, Higashi-hiroshima, Hiroshima 739-0046, Japan.
authors.forename: Osamu
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Mizutani
authors.affiliation: Kinki University Faculty of Engineering, Higashi-hiroshima, Hiroshima 739-2116, Japan.
authors.forename: Kaoru
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakasone
authors.affiliation: Kanazawa Institute of Technology, Nonoichi, Ishikawa 921-8501, Japan.
authors.forename: Motoaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sano
authors.affiliation: National Research Institute of Brewing, Higashi-hiroshima, Hiroshima 739-0046, Japan.
authors.forename: Yohei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shiraishi
authors.affiliation: Biojet Company LTD, Uruma, Okinawa 904-2231, Japan.
authors.forename: Masatoshi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tsukahara
authors.affiliation: Tohoku University, Aoba-ku, Sendai 981-8555, Japan.
authors.forename: Katsuya
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Gomi
mesh_terms: D001230:Aspergillus / Q000235:genetics*; D004271:DNA, Fungal / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D016681:Genome, Fungal; D058977:Molecular Sequence Annotation; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D004271:DNA, Fungal
keywords: Aspergillus luchuensis; genome sequence; kuro (black) koji mold