Good, bad, and uglyFungi mold your world

What Is Killing the Bees? Look to the EnvironmentA response to an article about the causes of the colony collapse disorder . October 21, 2010Honeybee Killer Found by Army and EntomologistsBy KIRK JOHNSONA fungus and a virus apparently caused the honeybee “colony collapse.” October 7, 2010Toiling to Save a Threatened FrogBy ERICA REXA professor is conducting an experiment he hopes will help preserve what remains of the Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frog. October 5, 2010Old Trees May Soon Meet Their MatchBy JIM ROBBINSBristlecone pines, which live in extreme conditions about two miles above sea level, are being challenged by a fungus and the native pine bark beetle. September 28, 2010A Destructive EpidemicEDITORIALA fungus is killing off bats with astonishing speed, and possibly changing an entire ecosystem. August 10, 2010Do-It-Yourself MushroomsBy MICHAEL TORTORELLOMushroom-growing kits are selling rapidly, signaling an increasing interest in raising your own. April 15, 2010Unearthing the Sex Secrets of the Périgord Black TruffleBy NICHOLAS WADEThe cynosure of every foodie’s dreams is about to yield its most intimate secrets to a team of French and Italian researchers who have decoded its genome. March 29, 2010In Plants, Yeast Raises TemperaturesBy HENRY FOUNTAINResearchers in Spain found that yeast brought to the dungwort plant by pollinating bumblebees warmed the plant’s nectar and the flower itself. March 2, 2010

Newsworthy

Magical polypores

R. A. Blanchette

Haploporus odorus: A sacred fungus in traditional Native American culture of the northern plains. --R. A. Blanchette

Haploporus odorus --on Salix, Fraxinus (BC, SA, MB)

John Lennon, Mick Jagger, Bob Dylan, others traveled to Oaxaca, seeking the spiritual guidance of Maria Sabina, the curandera.

Life

Joseph NagyvaryTexas Agricultural Experiment Station

photo by Kathleen Phillips

'Violin Fungus' Genetically DecodedJuly 19, 2010 — An international team has sequenced the genome of the common split gill mushroom, Schizophyllumcommune, a widely distributed fungus which grows on and decomposes wood. It is this ability which …

'Violin Fungus' Genetically DecodedJuly 19, 2010 — An international team has sequenced the genome of the common split gill mushroom, Schizophyllumcommune, a widely distributed fungus which grows on and decomposes wood. It is this ability which …

Fungus-Treated Violin Outdoes StradivariusSep. 14, 2009In the test, the British star violinist Matthew Truslerplayed five different instruments behind a curtain, so that the audience did not know which was being played. Of the more than 180 attendees, an overwhelming number –90 persons – felt the tone of the fungally treated violin "Opus 58" to be the best.

Fungus-Treated Violin Outdoes StradivariusSep. 14, 2009In the test, the British star violinist Matthew Truslerplayed five different instruments behind a curtain, so that the audience did not know which was being played. Of the more than 180 attendees, an overwhelming number –90 persons – felt the tone of the fungally treated violin "Opus 58" to be the best.

Secret Of The Sweet-Sounding Stradivarius: Wood Density Explains Sound Quality Of Great Master ViolinsJuly 2, 2008

Secret Of The Sweet-Sounding Stradivarius: Wood Density Explains Sound Quality Of Great Master ViolinsJuly 2, 2008

Secrets Of Stradivarius' Unique Violin Sound Revealed, Professor SaysJan. 25, 2009

Secrets Of Stradivarius' Unique Violin Sound Revealed, Professor SaysJan. 25, 2009

Intarsia in Italian furniture (early 1400s)Turnbridge Ware --Turnbridge Wells, England

Pigment from Chlorocibora aeruginascens

Blanchette, RA, A. M. Wilmering, M. Baumeister. 1992. The use of green-stained wood caused by the fungus Chlorociboria in intarsia masterpieces from the 15th-Century. Holzforschung 46: 225-232.

www.antiquescentreyorkeshop.co.uk laoyezi1977.blogspot.com

Coffee rust

Coffee rust --Why the British drink tea

EthiopiaEthiopia

Wheat rust:Why southerners eat

cornbread

Stinking smut of wheat:Why children eat

gingerbread

USDA

Trichoderma reesiiStone-washed jeans

Funky fungus prompts murder investigationHunt for body turns up odiferous ‘stinkhorn’ in German forest

Copyright 2005 Reuters LimitedUpdated: 3:45 p.m. ET Aug. 2, 2005

BERLIN - The odor given off by an unusually large fungus in Germany was so foul that it sparked a police hunt for a corpse.

A spokesman for police in the eastern city of Dresden said that following weekend reports from local people about the smell, five officers and a sniffer dog went to investigate in a forest close to the German-Czech border.

“Then they discovered this gigantic stinkhorn,” he J.K. LindseyJ.K. Lindsey

said, referring to the fetid-smelling, oddly-shaped fungus with the Latin name Phallus impudicus. “Those things really do stink.”

Police called off the search and retreated from the malodorous fungus, which German media said was about 8 inches long, much bigger than stinkhorns usually grow.

This highly potent treatment is the heart of Dr . Weil's integrative approach.

It features his proprietary blend of Hypsizygus ulmarius, Cordyceps, and ReishiMushrooms, Ginger, Turmeric and Holy Basil.

Use it twice daily and you'll soon see a renewed radiance and clarity. Your skin will look and feel calmer, healthier and less stressed.

Exploration•Discovery of new fungi•Bringing order to fungi

$$$$$ from Fungi•Super models•Products

Interactions•Photosynthetic organisms•Insects

Dispersal•Spore release•Air •Insect

Outline

Exploration•Discovery of new fungi•Bringing order to fungi

$$$$$ from Fungi•Super models•Products

Interactions•Photosynthetic organisms•Insects

Dispersal•Spore release•Air •Insect

Outline

The ridge they were exploring, Doyle's Delight, is nine miles east of the Guatemalan border and was named for its resemblance to the prehistoric setting of Arthur Conan Doyle's novel "The Lost World.'' Towering palms and strangler figs, their trunks wrapped in a green shag of ferns and mosses, rise and converge in a leafy canopy that keeps the moist forest floor in perpetual dusk. The ridge is so remote that the British Army's jungle training unit dropped the expedition members and a reporter in by helicopter.

The Fungi Hunt: So Many Species, Ripe for FindingBy BRUCE BARCOTT

September 7, 2004

Diversity

1.5 million fungi –where are they? (Hawksworth, 1991)

October 31, 2008—Situated more than 3,500 feet up in Belize's highest cloud forest, there's a ridge known as Doyle's Delight, and it'smushroom heaven. [6 new genera; number of new species unknown; 4new genera from Guyana (75% species new)].

—by Hayley Rutger, for National Geographic Magazine

October 31, 2008—Situated more than 3,500 feet up in Belize's highest cloud forest, there's a ridge known as Doyle's Delight, and it'smushroom heaven. [6 new genera; number of new species unknown; 4new genera from Guyana (75% species new)].

—by Hayley Rutger, for National Geographic Magazine

Pseudotulostoma volvata: This very strange fungus grows under Dicymbe forest in a remote area

of Guyana.

Pseudotulostoma volvata: This very strange fungus grows under Dicymbe forest in a remote area

of Guyana.

“Fungus of the century”“Fungus of the century”

Leaving DoyleLeaving Doyle’’s Delight ahead of a s Delight ahead of a hurricane hurricane

1.5 million fungi – where are they?

Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Chile, China, New Zealand, Australia, Germany, France, Austria, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Russia (several regions including Kedrovaya Reserve in the far east and Caucasia), Japan. Big collecting holes that need attention include Africa, Brazil, parts of Asia, Siberia. – Ron Petersen

1.5 million fungi –where are they?

The Smithsonian Institution

Many more fungi on Barro Colorado Island

•1000s of yeasts with 200 new species from the gut of beetles – Suh and Blackwell

•418 endophytes from 83 leaves – Arnold

15001500--hectareshectares

Researchers Barcode DNA Of Venice Museum's Vast Fungi CollectionDecember 15, 2006 —UC Berkeley researchers are partnering with the Venice Museum of Natural History to build an unprecedented DNA database of its vast fungi collection. More than 6,000 species will be sequenced and ...

Researchers Barcode DNA Of Venice Museum's Vast Fungi CollectionDecember 15, 2006 —UC Berkeley researchers are partnering with the Venice Museum of Natural History to build an unprecedented DNA database of its vast fungi collection. More than 6,000 species will be sequenced and ...

Genome Sequencing Of Fungus May Lead To Improved BioethanolProduction From WoodMarch 5, 2009 —Scientists have discovered the mechanisms with which certain types of fungus attacks wood in order to use the cellulose contained within. These results are important for designing processes using ...

Genome Sequencing Of Fungus May Lead To Improved BioethanolProduction From WoodMarch 5, 2009 —Scientists have discovered the mechanisms with which certain types of fungus attacks wood in order to use the cellulose contained within. These results are important for designing processes using ...

Discoveries in the Fungal Kingdom: Researchers Decode Genome With New TechniqueApril 9, 2010 — Using “next generation” techniques researchers have decoded the genome of the fungus Sordaria macrospora. By doing so, they have gained insights into the way that fungi live and evolve. ...

Discoveries in the Fungal Kingdom: Researchers Decode Genome With New TechniqueApril 9, 2010 — Using “next generation” techniques researchers have decoded the genome of the fungus Sordaria macrospora. By doing so, they have gained insights into the way that fungi live and evolve. ...

Schadt CW, Martin AP , Lipson DA, Schmidt SK. 2003. Seasonal dynamics of previously unknown fungal lineages in tundra soils. Science 301:1359–1361.Schadt CW, Martin AP , Lipson DA, Schmidt SK. 2003. Seasonal dynamics of previously unknown fungal lineages in tundra soils. Science 301:1359–1361.

Soil Group 1

Discover new lineages – a subphylum?

Taphrina

Saccharomyces

Soil Clone Group 1Soil Clone Group 1

T.M. Porter, C.W. Schadt, L. Rizvi, A.P . Martin, S.K. Schmidt, L. Scott-Denton, R. Vilgalys and J.M. Moncalvo. 2008. Widespread occurrence and phylogenetic placement of a soil clone group adds a prominent new branch to the fungal tree of life. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 46:635-64.

T.M. Porter, C.W. Schadt, L. Rizvi, A.P . Martin, S.K. Schmidt, L. Scott-Denton, R. Vilgalys and J.M. Moncalvo. 2008. Widespread occurrence and phylogenetic placement of a soil clone group adds a prominent new branch to the fungal tree of life. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 46:635-64.

Daughtrey et al. (1996)

Seattle

New York City

na.fs.fed.us

North American: 1994 from Asia?????Europe: Germany: 2002; Italy: 2003; Switzerland: 2009 from North America

Real-Time PCR Detection of Dogwood Anthracnose Fungus

Ning Zhang, Rutgers (submitted)

Flowering dogwood leaf sample Italy (2010)

Kousa dogwood leaf sample Japan (2010)

specific primers

DEEP HYPHA§Introduction§Dating the origin of Fungi§Evolution of morphology§21 articles on multigene

phylogenies of most major groups

DEEP HYPHA§Introduction§Dating the origin of Fungi§Evolution of morphology§21 articles on multigene

phylogenies of most major groups

68 authorsArgentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Kenya, Korea, Japan, Portugal, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, USA

Chytridiomycota

ZygomycotaZygomycota 11

Ascomycota

BasidiomycotaBasidiomycota

Animals Animals ((outgroupoutgroup))

Microsporida

EntomophthoralesEntomophthorales

Blastocladiomycota

Neocallimastigomycota

ZygomycotaZygomycota 22

(13 000 species)

(706 species)

(20 species)

(179 species)

(327 species)

(744 species)

(169 species)

(64 163 species)

(31 515 species)

(1 293 642 species)

GlomeromycotaGlomeromycota(277 species)

“Chytrids”“Zygom

ycetes”

?

?

?

(98 000 species)Fungi

Hibbett et al. 2007, White et al. 2006; James et al. 2006

Jason E. Stajich, Mary L. Berbee, Meredith Blackwell, David S. Hibbett, Timothy Y . James, Joseph W. Spatafora, and John W. Taylor (2009)

Exploration•Discovery of new fungi•Bringing order to fungi

$$$$$ from Fungi•Super models•Products

Interactions•Photosynthetic organisms•Insects

Dispersal•Spore release•Air •Insect

Fungi at IOM

Outline

The baking and brewing yeastSaccharomyces cerevisiae

5µm

Suh, S.-O., M. Blackwell, C. P . Kurtzman, and M-A. Lachance (2006)

Super modelSuper model

Mary Parker, Institute Mary Parker, Institute of Food Research, UKof Food Research, UK

Penicillium chrysogenumPenicillium chrysogenum

Schizosaccharomyces pombeSchizosaccharomyces pombe

www.microbiologybytes.com

Neurospora sp.Neurospora sp.

Martin Bidartondo, RBG

Ice Man used fungus to quell parasites: doctorLONDON (Reuters) In a letter to The Lancet medical journal, Capasso said two walnut-size objects tied to a leather thong that were found with his body were the fruit of Piptoporus betulinus, a fungus that has antibiotic properties. “The discovery of the fungus suggests that the Ice Man was aware of his intestinal parasites and fought them with measured doses of Piptoporus betulinus,” said Capasso. –Or was it a strop, such as those that continue to be used in the UK?

Piptoporus betulinus

Tom Volk

ötzi

oetzi20.it

Fomitopsis officinalis (quinine conk)

Tom Volk Fomes fomentarius

Stiptic

Photo: Dusty Yao-Stamets, Wikimedia Commons

Tom Volk Ganoderma lucidumGanoderma lucidum

The Wall was built by order of the Emperor Hadrian, probably given during his visit to Britain in AD 122.

Stock piled giant puffballs –probably used as a styptic.

–bbc.co.uk/history

bbc.co.uk/history

Gi-Ho Sung

Thanks to Penicillin – He will come home!Thanks to Penicillin – He will come home!

Schenley Laboratories, Inc., Lawrenceburg, Indiana

Three anti-cholesterol statins, penicillin, and cyclosporin A, each brings in more than $1 billion annually.

Emil Christian Hansen was the first in the world to produce pure cultured yeast in 1888 in Copenhagen, Denmark . A major breakthrough in 1883 for the art of brewing.

Burrough Market, London

Foods–mushrooms, processed foods

“The harvested filamentous cells of a distant relative of the mushroom family [Fusariumspecies ATCC 20334] grown by a continuous fermentation process.”

Corn smut Aspergillus

Exploration•Discovery of new fungi•Bringing order to fungi

Value from Fungi•Super models•Products

Interactions•Photosynthetic organisms•Insects

Dispersal•Spore release•Air •Insect

Outline

Fungi and photosynthetic organisms•Endophytes—95% of all plants•Mycorrhizae—90% of all plants•Lichens—1/2 of all ascomycetes

USDA, ARS sarcozona.org/tag/botany/ Ernst Haeckel

Mycorrhizae—90% of all plants

Pisolithus tinctorius, the dead man's foot (or the dog turd fungus)Pisolithus tinctorius, the dead man's foot (or the dog turd fungus)

The AlabamycologistThe AlabamycologistAlabamycologist

Tuesday, February 24, 2004

To the Rescue: Fungi That Invade Also Protect LeavesBy CAROL KAESUK YOON

Every moment, in forests everywhere, a vast biological bombardment is going on unseen by human eyes.

Endophyte+ cocoa plants protected against Phytophthora sp.

Betsy Arnold

Endophytes

Science 26 January 2007:Vol. 315. no. 5811, pp. 513 – 515

Reports

Luis M. Márquez, Regina S. Redman, Russell J. Rodriguez, Marilyn J. Roossinck. A Virus in a Fungus in a Plant: Three-Way Symbiosis Required for Thermal Tolerance

John W. Taylor www.travlang.comwww.travlang.com

Regina S. Redman and Rusty Rodriguez

The British Navy and Dry RotSamuel Pepys (1633 –1703), Secretary of the Admiralty. Removed “toadstools,” big as his fists (1684)

1810 –HMS Queen Charlotte II lasted 14 monthsRepairs up to 1816 cost 94,499 pounds exceeding the original cost to build the ship (88,837 pounds)

1863 --Ironclads came inEnglish oak –“English” removed from specificationsUnseasoned wood known to be bad

commons.wikimedia.org portcities.org.uk/

The First Consulting MycologistJAMES SOWERBY (1757-1822)

Red-cockaded woodpeckers need open, mature (at least 60 year old) pine forest with a high fire occurrence. These woodpeckers prefer living pines infected with red heart rot for nesting.

Phellinis piniUSDA Forest Service

Found only in the heaviest timber in virgin cypress and bottomland hardwood forests of the South. The squarish holes are high, 16 to 65 feet, and in the trunks of living or dead trees.

USDA Forest Service

Fungus on a Fly, Location Unknown, 2000(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Fungi," August 2000, National Geographic magazine)Photograph by Darlyne A. Murawski

Rossi and Weir 2000

Darlyne A. Murawski

Stuart M. Bennett

Host specificity in Laboulbeniales

Fungus-feeding beetles/yeasts

James Robertson

Fungus-growing termites/mushrooms

Duur Aanen

Nardi, J. B., C. M. Bee, L. A. Miller, N. H. Nguyen, S-O Suh, and M. Blackwell. Communities of microbes that inhabit the changing hind gut landscape of a subsocial beetle. Arthropod Structure and Development , in press.

Gerald J. Lenhard

Gerald J. Lenhard

4 15 10 5 = 42 million cells8

Insect — Fungus Interactions

Cameron Currie

Cameron Currie

Most leaf cutter symbionts Lepiotaceae

Cameron Currie

Munkacsi et al., 2004

The mycangia (arrows) in the head of a redbay ambrosia beetle where they carry the wilt fungus. (Photo by Mike Ulyshen)

http://www.usa.gov/

Exploration•Discovery of new fungi•Bringing order to fungi

$$$$$ from Fungi•Super models•Products

Interactions•Photosynthetic organisms•Insects

Dispersal•Spore release•Air •Insect

Outline

Microbes Hitchhike Across Atlantic On Desert DustMay 26, 2006 —Bacteria and fungi, some with the potential to cause disease in plants or animals, may be finding their way from Africa to the Americas by hitchhiking on microscopic dust particles kicked up by ...

Microbes Hitchhike Across Atlantic On Desert DustMay 26, 2006 —Bacteria and fungi, some with the potential to cause disease in plants or animals, may be finding their way from Africa to the Americas by hitchhiking on microscopic dust particles kicked up by ...

Fastest Flights In Nature: High-Speed Spore Discharge Mechanisms Among FungiSeptember 17, 2008— Microscopic coprophilous (dung-loving fungi) make our planet habitable by degrading the billions of tons of feces produced by herbivores. But the fungi have a problem: survival depends upon the ...

Fastest Flights In Nature: High-Speed Spore Discharge Mechanisms Among FungiSeptember 17, 2008— Microscopic coprophilous (dung-loving fungi) make our planet habitable by degrading the billions of tons of feces produced by herbivores. But the fungi have a problem: survival depends upon the ...

Fungal Spores Travel Farther by Surfing Their Own WindOctober 4, 2010 — Many fungi, including the destructive Sclerotinia, spew thousands of spores at once to give the spores an extra boost into their host plants. Researchers now show how this works. The ...

Fungal Spores Travel Farther by Surfing Their Own WindOctober 4, 2010 — Many fungi, including the destructive Sclerotinia, spew thousands of spores at once to give the spores an extra boost into their host plants. Researchers now show how this works. The ...

PLoS ONE. 2008; 3(9): e3237. Published online 2008 September 17. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0003237

The Fastest Flights in Nature: High-Speed Spore Discharge Mechanisms among FungiLevi Yafetto, Loran Carroll, Yunluan Cui, Diana J. Davis, Mark W. F. Fischer, Andrew C. Henterly, Jordan D. Kessler, Hayley A. Kilroy, Jacob B. Shidler, Jessica L. Stolze-Rybczynski, Zachary Sugawara, and Nicholas P . Money

Photograph P.D. Pratt

Sclerotinia sclerotiorumJack Clark, U.C. Davis

Spore release100 million

Early diverging Fungi - Motile Spores

Chytridiomycota - Howard Whisler & Melvin Fuller

FlagellumFlagellum

The mycangia (arrows) in the head of a redbay ambrosia beetle where they carry the wilt fungus. (Photo by Mike Ulyshen)

http://www.usa.gov/

In my own back yard…

Basidiobolus ranarumAmphoromorpha sp.

Amy Grooters

Blackwell and Malloch (1989)

Joseph Kovach

Footbath for bees

Cornell News

Trichoderma harzanium (T22)

Fungus Foot Baths Could Save BeesJuly 28, 2008 — One of the biggest world wide threats to honey bees, the varroa mite, could soon be about to meet its nemesis. Researchers at the University of Warwick are examining naturally occurring fungi that ... Science Daily

Fungus Foot Baths Could Save BeesJuly 28, 2008 — One of the biggest world wide threats to honey bees, the varroa mite, could soon be about to meet its nemesis. Researchers at the University of Warwick are examining naturally occurring fungi that ... Science Daily

'Soyscreen': Sunscreen for Fungus to Expand Biological Control of Crop Pests (Aug. 26, 2010) —Scientists report the development and successful initial tests on a substance that acts as a sunscreen for the microscopic spores of a fungus, brightening prospects for wider use of the fungus as a ...

'Soyscreen': Sunscreen for Fungus to Expand Biological Control of Crop Pests (Aug. 26, 2010) —Scientists report the development and successful initial tests on a substance that acts as a sunscreen for the microscopic spores of a fungus, brightening prospects for wider use of the fungus as a ...

Evil Tendencies CancelEvil Tendencies CancelWill the blight end the chestnut?

The farmers rather guess not.It keeps smoldering at the roots

And sending up new shootsTill another parasite

Shall come to end the blight.--Robert Frost

And he gave it for his opinion that whoever could make two ears of corn or two blades of grass to grow upon a spot of ground where only one grew before, would deserve better of mankind, and do more essential service to his country than the whole race of politicians put together.

--Jonathan SwiftGulliver’sTravels, Voyage to Brobdingnag

December 14, 2010 - December 15, 2010 (8:30 AM Eastern) Keck Center (Room 100) • 500 Fifth St. NW, Washington, DC 20001

This public workshop will explore the causes and consequences of emerging fungal diseases. Invited presentations and discussions will illuminate the environmental, genetic, and anthropogenic factors influencing the emergence, establishment, and spread of fungal pathogens, as well as how these diseases impact human, animal and ecosystem health.

Fungi celebrated as topic of IOM workshop

Fungal Diseases: An emerging challenge to human, animal, and plant health

Big News of the Day n Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Letter written by Flora W. Patterson about the plant pathogens found upon inspection of the Japanese cherry trees shipped from Japan to Seattle and then transported via railroad to Washington, DC.