Filamentous fungi are used in several industries and in academia to produce antibiotics, metabolites, proteins
and pharmaceutical compounds. The development of valuable strains usually requires the insertion
of recombinant deoxyribonucleic acid; however, the protocols to transfer DNA to fungal cells are highly
inefficient. Recently, underwater shock waves were successfully used to genetically transform filamentous
fungi. The purpose of this research was to demonstrate that the efficiency of transformation can
be improved significantly by enhancing acoustic cavitation using tandem (dual-pulse) shock waves.
Results revealed that tandem pressure pulses, generated at a delay of 300 ls, increased the transformation
efficiency of Aspergillus niger up to 84% in comparison with conventional (single-pulse) shock waves.
This methodology may also be useful to obtain new strains required in basic research and biotechnology