The invention relates to Agrobacterium mediated transformation of moulds
comprising species of the fungal sub-divisions Ascomycotina,
Basidiomycotina, Deuteromycotina, Mastigomycotina, and Zygomycotina.
Examples demonstrate the transformation of Aspergillus awamori (both
protoplasts and conidia), Aspergillus nidulans, Aspergillus niger,
Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, Fusarium solani pisi, Neurospora crassa,
Trichoderma reesei, Pleurotus ostreatus and Agaricus bisporus (all
conidia), and Fusarium graminearum (both conidia and rehydrated freeze
dried ATCC material).
Especially for Aspergillus awamori the transformation frequency is much
higher than with conventional mould transformation techniques.
It has further been found that not only one expressable gene can be
introduced into these moulds, but even multiple copies of such gene,
which, moreover, can be targeted e.g. in the chromosomal pyrG locus, as
exemplified for A. awamori. These multiple copies can be of a gene
encoding a desired, homologous or heterologous, protein.