Neosartorya fischeri (Aspergillaceae) is a fungus found in soil, decaying vegetation and organic debris. Unlike its close relative the asexual Aspergillus fumigatus and the second most common fungal infection in the U.S., N. fischeri has a sexual stage and is very rarely pathogenic ocassionally causing keratitis and possibly pulmonary aspergillosis in transplant patients. Comparisons between these close relatives could facilitate studies on the pathogenicity of A. fumigatus and discover why a sexual stage in absent in the important pathogen.

The genome of N. fischeri was sequenced for comparative analyses with other fungal genomes. The resulting assembly is 32.5Mb over 8 chromosomes and contains 10407 genes. Its genome is 10-15% larger than A. clavatus and A. fumigatus and contains 35% more enzymes. 13.5% of the genes of N. fischeri are species-specific and comparative analysis suggests that a few amino acid changes may have may facilitated sexuality in this species.