Dutch researchers have announced that they have decoded the DNA sequence of Penicillium chrysogenum, the fungus that produces Penicillin.

The release of the findings comes just in time for the 80th anniversary of the discovery of Penicillin by Sir Andrew Fleming.

The researchers hope that this breakthrough will boost the development of new antibiotics to overcome problems of resistance. They also believe that it could lead to improvements in the manufacturing of antibiotics:

Gerard de Reuver, President of DSM Anti-Infectives, comments: “The insights gained through this research will help DSM Anti-Infectives to improve current production methods for Beta-lactam antibiotics. It will also allow greater innovations in the development of production mechanisms from which our customers and the patients in need of these products will benefit too. We are committed to sustaining our world leading position in these very important pharmaceutical products”…

In order to gain a better understanding of the mechanisms by which Penicillium chrysogenum produces antibiotics, and to improve the efficiency of this organism in the fermentation processes, DSM started a research project in 2004 to determine the complete DNA sequence of Penicillium chrysogenum and to elucidate of the functions of the different genes. The project has resulted in a high-quality genome sequence of 32.2 million base pairs with 13,653 unique genes. The functions of around 6,000 of these genes could be predicted and the first functional analysis of the genome has been reported.

One of the researchers discussed the next steps in this research with the BBC:

Dr Roel Bovenberg, a researcher at DSM Anti-Infectives, the biotechnology company behind the genome sequencing, said the four-year project had thrown up “several surprises” which they were investigating further in collaboration with academics.

“It provides insight into what genes encode for, know-how in terms of manufacturing and new compounds to be identified and tested. There are genes and gene families we did not think would be involved in biosynthesis of penicillins – they weren’t on our radar so that is our follow-up work.”

Their findings will be published in the October issue of the journal “Nature Biotechnology“.