Aspergillus oryzae
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| Aspergillus oryzae (Ahlburg) Cohn |
Aspergillus oryzae (Chinese: 麴菌, 麴霉菌, 曲霉菌, pinyin: qū meí jùn, Japanese: 麹, 麹菌 or koji) is a fungus used in Chinese and Japanese cuisine which ferments soybeans to produce miso and soy sauce. The fungus is also used by both cultures to saccharify rice, potatoes and grains for fermentation in the making for sake, shochu, and huangjiu.
"Red kōji-kin" is a separate species, Monascus purpureus.
[edit] Genome
Initially kept secret, the A. oryzae genome was released by a consortium of Japanese biotechnology companies [1] in late 2005[2]. The eight chromosomes together comprise 37 million base pairs and twelve thousand predicted genes. The genome of A. oryzae is thus one-third larger than that of two related Aspergilli, the genetics model organism Aspergillus nidulans and the dangerous human pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus[3]. Many of the extra genes present in A. oryzae are predicted to be involved in secondary metabolism. The sequenced strain is called RIB40 or ATCC 42149, and is a wildtype strain that is also used industrially.
[edit] References
- ^ Goffeau, André (December 2005). "Multiple moulds". Nature 438: 1092-1093.
- ^ Machida, Masayuki et. al. (December 2005). "Genome sequencing and analysis of Aspergillus oryzae". Nature 438: 1157-1161. DOI:10.1038/nature04300.
- ^ Galagan, James E., et al (December 2005). "Sequencing of Aspergillus nidulans and comparative analysis with A. fumigatus and A. oryzae". Nature 438: 1105-1115. DOI:10.1038/nature04341.
[edit] External links
- Sake World's description of koji
- Aspergillus oryzae genome from the Database of Genomes Analysed at NITE (DOGAN)
