Richard Honour

Richard Honour

Mar 29, 2015

Group 6 Copy 52
2

Good Culture Work Leads to Good Genomics

The Experiment.com support for the fungal culture and identification work seems now to have been more important than had been imagined. We learned how to grow the fungus in vitro, on defined medium, in the lab, in pure culture. This turns out to have been a critical step. We are now headed for DNA extraction of the sludge-eating mini-mushrooms, followed by whole genomic sequencing, so the beginning work on the target mushroom (and DNA) collection and preservation protocol last Friday was critical. In this world, scientists do most of their work in a nice clean lab, not in a toxic, up-to-your-knees-in-sewage-sludge, wholly contaminated, in the forest situation, without any way to get the collected materials into dry ice or liquid nitrogen within moments - uncontaminated. This reminds me of decades earlier work in the Antarctic, wherein Fed overseers liked to comment about my faulty field methods, at -50C with the complete lab in my backpack; the quick-freezing part was easy back then, but not here; now it takes hours just to hike or bike out. In any case, we are on the move toward the genomics, which has never been done previously on our mini-shroom sludge eater. At least we collected the target on Friday, amongst the horrid mess. By the images you can likely imagine the aroma, much less the contamination. What I need is a Lab-In-A Jeep.


2 comments

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  • Richard Honour
    Richard HonourResearcher
    Denny: Thank you. Next time you are here, you can join me to go see the forest disaster first hand. In a month or so they will begin the cycle again, disposing of yet more tens of thousands of tons to toxic sewage sludge in the forests, wetlands and associated waters. Odd thing is, "they" don't even know what's in it, much less what it does to human and environmental health. Richard
    Mar 30, 2015
  • Denny Luan
    Denny LuanBacker
    This is an awesome update, very cool to see how you're keeping the samples.
    Mar 30, 2015

About This Project

The Precautionary Group

We've discovered a few new mushrooms thriving in this harsh environment of land-disposed sewage sludge in Snoqualmie, Washington. We're testing these mushrooms for new antimicrobial properties. Microbes that survive exposure to toxic sewage sludge engage adaptive mechanisms that transform toxins into secondary metabolites.

Blast off!

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