Filamentous fungi undergo significant cellular morphological changes during their life cycle. It has recently been reported that deletions of genes that are involved in phospholipid synthesis led to abnormal hyphal morphology and differentiation in filamentous fungi. Although these results suggest the importance of phospholipid balance in their life cycle, comprehensive analyses of cellular phospholipids are limited. Here, we performed lipidomic analysis of A. nidulans during morphological changes in a liquid medium and of colonies on a solid medium. We observed that the phospholipid composition and transcription of the genes involved in phospholipid synthesis changed dynamically during the life cycle. Specifically, the levels of phosphatidylethanolamine, and highly unsaturated phospholipids increased during the establishment of polarity. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the phospholipid composition in the hyphae at colony margins is similar to that during conidial germination. Furthermore, we demonstrated that common and characteristic phospholipid changes occurred during germination in A. nidulans and A. oryzae, and that species-specific changes also occurred. These results suggest that the exquisite regulation of phospholipid composition is crucial for the growth and differentiation of filamentous fungi.

丝状真菌在其生命周期中经历显着的细胞形态变化。最近有报道称，丝状真菌中参与磷脂合成的基因缺失导致菌丝形态和分化异常。尽管这些结果表明磷脂平衡在其生命周期中的重要性，但对细胞磷脂的综合分析是有限的。在这里，我们对构巢曲霉在液体培养基中和固体培养基上的菌落形态变化过程中进行了脂质组学分析。我们观察到磷脂组成和参与磷脂合成的基因转录在生命周期中动态变化。具体来说，磷脂酰乙醇胺和高度不饱和磷脂的水平在极性建立过程中增加。此外，我们证明菌落边缘菌丝中的磷脂组成与分生孢子萌发期间的磷脂组成相似。此外，我们证明了构巢曲霉和米曲霉在发芽过程中发生了常见和特征性的磷脂变化，并且还发生了物种特异性的变化。这些结果表明，磷脂组成的精细调节对于丝状真菌的生长和分化至关重要。