Richard Honour

Richard Honour

Jun 08, 2015

Group 6 Copy 73
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Sludgeophagus Fungi Reign Supreme – In Sewage Sludge

We explored some new sewage sludge disposal areas in the Snoqualmie Forest last week, adjacent to the sewage sludge disposal sites currently under our study. The three target Sludge-Tolerant, Sludgeophagus Fungi we have been tracking were there also; specimens of each were collected.

Hyphal tip isolation and culture in the lab using three media, including one with broad-spectrum antibiotics, was initiated, and all three fungi are now being cultured in what appears to be pure culture in our hands. We shall see!

Our Lab Tech is most excellent at teasing-out and cultivating our target fungi from this highly contaminated sewage sludge material, in what we hope is pure culture - a meaningful skill.

Subcultures are being made by various methods to assure that contaminating bacteria, other fungi or other microbes are not being carried along in the cultures with the three target fungi.

Any and all infectious agents can be expected to be encountered in sewage sludge, no matter the intended 'treatment' processes employed. Although there are standard tests for use with sewage sludges, those tests do not even attempt to detect any of the critical pathogens of humans, animals or plants. What's more, many infectious agents not only survive the wastewater treatment process, but they amplify during the process and thereafter in forests or on farms or rangelands where they are disposed.

Any definitive taxonomic discovery work on these three fungi will have to await serious genomic analysis; the literature on these forest fungi remains poorly informative genomically, primarily because most fungal genomics work to date has focused on the important human and plant pathogens, and on the biotech fungal expression systems. We'll get there.

In parallel, there is analytical work in process on a couple of classes of known toxins in the same sewage sludge samples, including some that we have confirmed. These toxins will be used later as model inciting agents to discover if these fungi express antimicrobial compounds in response to exposure to the well-characterized toxic chemicals in sludge.

We are plowing new ground, and this is progress.

Hyphae of Hypholoma fasiculare (putative) growing in medium supplemented with broad-spectrum antimicrobial agents.

Hypholoma fasiculare (putative) in situ, on the forest floor, in sewage sludge, as collected.

Hyphae of one Mycena spp. (putative) growing in pure culture (hopefully).

The first Mycena spp. (putative) in situ, in deep sewage sludge in a stream bed, as collected.

Hyphae of a second Mycena spp. (putative) growing in pure culture (less hopefully).

The second Mycena spp. (putative) in situ, in sewage sludge on the forest floor, as collected.

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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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