Podospora anserina

Podospora anserina is a model filamentous ascomycete fungus. It is pseudohomothallic and non-pathogenic to humans. This species is coprophilous, colonising the dung of herbivorous animals. Podospora anserina was originally named Malinvernia anserina Rabenhorst (1857) and Podospora anserina was subsequently published in Niessl von Mayendorf, G. 1883: Ueber die Theilung der Gattung Sordaria. Hedwigia 22: 153-156, which is used today to reference the common laboratory strain therefrom, namely, 'Niessl'. It is also known as Pleurage anserina (Ces.) Kuntze. Genetics of P. anserina were characterized in Rizet and Engelmann (1949) and reviewed by Esser (1974). P. anserina is estimated to have diverged from N. crassa 75 million years ago based on 18s rRNA and protein orthologous share 60-70% homology.NCBI Taxonomy ID: 5145, MycoBank # 100818 Gene cluster orthologs between Aspergillus nidulans and Podospora anserina have 63% identical primary amino acid sequence (even those these species are from distinct classes) and the average amino acid of compared proteomes is 10% less, giving rise to hypotheses of distinct species yet shared genes Podospora as a model organism to study genetics, aging (senescence, cell degeneration), ascomycete development, heterokaryon incompatibility (mating in fungi), prions, and mitochondrial and peroxisomal physiology. Podospora is easily culturable (for example, on/in complex (full) potato dextrose or cornmeal agar/broth or even synthetic medium), and, using modern molecular tools, is easy to manipulate. Its optimal growth temperature is 25-27 °C.