Eighty years after its discovery, Fleming's Penicillium strain discloses the secret of its sex

Abstract

Eighty years ago, Alexander Fleming discovered antibacterial activity in the asexual mold Penicillium, and the strain he studied later was replaced by an overproducing isolate still used for penicillin production today. Using a heterologous PCR approach, we show that these strains are of opposite mating types and that both have retained transcriptionally expressed pheromone and pheromone receptor genes required for sexual reproduction. This discovery extends options for industrial strain improvement programs using conventional genetical approaches.