Genetic transformation of filamentous fungi

Many filamentous fungi of all taxa can now be subject to DNA-mediated transformation. Many dominant selectable markers are available and the range available is increasing as new genes are cloned. Transformation is especially valuable in cloning genes defined by mutations with selectable phenotypes and is allowing investigation of many problems in fungi with good generic systems. Increasingly sophisticated techniques for inactivating genes, targeting in vitro generated mutations to specific loci, and altering gene expression and its regulation are being developed. These approaches are being used to investigate the wealth of basic and applied biological problems available in filamentous fungi.