To Exploit the therapeutic potential of secondary metabolites from fungi, Aspergillus niger is chosen as the novel chassis. It is one of the most important microorganisms used in biotechnology, e.g. to produce extracellular (food) enzymes and citric acid. The FDA in the United States has accepted numerous enzymes from A. niger can be ‘generally regarded as safe’ (GRAS) under the condition that non-pathogenic and non-toxigenic strains and current good manufacturing practices be used in production. [1] In our project, Aspergillus niger N593, and 872.11 which are derivatives of N400 are used as our non-pathogenic industrial workhorses to produce secondary metabolites.

As other filamentous fungi, Aspergillus niger should be treated carefully to avoid the formation of spore dust. However, compared with others, it rarely causes allergy or mycopathology. A few medical cases, e.g. lung infections, have been reported, but always in severely immunocompromised patients.[1] A. niger strains produce a series of secondary metabolites, but only ochratoxin A can be regarded as a mycotoxin. The strain we use has already been checked for ochratoxin A production before they are developed as production organisms. Besides, transforming Aspergillus may result in the removal of the auxotrophy marker. N593 and 872.11 stains have the pyrA auxotrophy marker. However, since we work in an ML-1 lab, there is no chance for this organism to escape. It is concluded, with these restrictions, the A. niger we introduce to iGEM is a safe production organism.