Evolution of the pathogenic mold Aspergillus fumigatus on high copper levels identifies novel resistance genes.

Our previous work has revealed that under high Cu levels,the A. fumigatus transcription factor AceA is activated, inducing the expression of thecopper exporter CrpA to expel excess Cu.To identify additional elements in Cu resistance, we evolved A. fumigatus wild-typeand mutant daceA or dcrpA strains to increasing Cu concentrations. Sequencing ofthe resultant resistant strains identified both shared and unique evolutionary pathwaysto resistance.