Caracterização in silico de STRs em genomas de Aspergillus niger visando ao desenvolvimento de marcadores moleculares para cepas de bioinsumos agrícolas

Abstract

Soil microbiota, particularly fungi, play a central role in plant growth promotion and nutrient cycling. Among them, Aspergillus niger stands out due to its biotechnological potential, contributing to phosphate solubilization and enhancing plant development. However, the application of such microorganisms requires robust strategies to enable precise and reliable tracking of the fate and behavior of introduced strains under environmental conditions. In this context, this study advances the genomic characterization of A. niger by focusing on microsatellites (short tandem repeats, STRs) for the identification of genetic markers with high discriminatory power among strains, through an integrated in silico workflow of detection, variability assessment and validation. In addition to expanding the characterization of these markers, the proposed strategy provides an efficient, reproducible, scalable, and cost-effective computational framework that reduces reliance on experimental procedures during the early stages of molecular marker development.