Isolation of cell wall mutants in Aspergillus nidulans by screening for hypersensitivity to Calcofluor White.

As a first step toward identifying novel genes of wall metabolism in filamentous fungi, we have screened a collection of Aspergillus nidulans mutants for strains exhibiting hypersensitivity toward the chitin binding agent Calcofluor White (CFW). This strategy has been used previously to identify cell wall mutants in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We have identified 10 mutants representing eight loci, designated calA through calH, for Calcofluor hypersensitivity.