Transcriptomic and metabolomic profiling of ionic liquid stimuli unveils enhanced secondary metabolism in Aspergillus nidulans

The study aims essentially in the analysis of the transcriptomic and metabolomic profiles induced by the presence of the tested ionic liquids in the metabolism of Aspergillus nidulans. Focusing specially on the secondary metabolism, which genes are clustered. Aspergillus nidulans cultures were grown for fifteen days in mineral media alone (control) or supplemented with 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride or cholinium chloride at a concentration of half the MIC previously determined for 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride, namely 0.7 M for A. nidulans. To investigate the impact of the tested ionic liquids in the metabolism of A. nidulans, the fungal transcriptome (three biological replicates) was analysed using Affymetrix microarrays. Pair-wise comparisons were used to identify the set of genes with altered expression levels between the control and the media supplemented with either 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride or cholinium chloride after fifteen days.