About This Project

Of the millions of fungal species, less than 150,000 are known. At our community lab, Hackuarium, we have already used DNA sequencing analyses in several projects (eg. BeerDeCoded, OpenFoodRepo DNA) and have begun to apply these methods to investigate fungal biodiversity. Now, with our mushroom expert, Yngvar, we propose further metagenomic analyses, and to also explore mycelial feeding to honey bees in the context of another lab project, BeeMoS, to possibly protect them from pathogens.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

Mushrooms are only the fruiting bodies of mycelia. Mycelia on the other hand are essential for global biodiversity, and necessary for plants and insects to survive, by providing nutrients and essential compounds. Results showing bees protected by mushroom extracts inspire us.

In academia, the main research on fungi is limited to ones responsible for diseases in humans, animals, and plants. Industry is interested in and funding this research in order to produce medicines and fungicides. Unfortunately, these can harm fungal biodiversity, similar to insecticide effects on the biodiversity of insects. This is not desirable.

Open participatory research is one way to focus science upon problems that need to be solved, rather than the profits that might be made.

What is the significance of this project?

It has been known for some time that high fungal biodiversity is associated with more resilience in ecosystems.

To determine species of a fungus can be time consuming, however. To acquire knowledge by attending courses given by mycological societies, or from very expensive books (e.g. the Atlas des Cortinaires costs more than $2'000), depending upon your preference, is necessary. For classical species determination, access not only to specimens, but to a microscope and tissue staining chemicals is crucial.

DNA sequencing does not make up for such understanding, but can quickly complement classic methods. Using single sample methods (cultivating mycelia and amplifying DNA) we can ID species. Metagenomic flow sequencing, as proposed, IDs many species in a population.

What are the goals of the project?

We plan to investigate mycelial biodiversity as a participatory research project, and share methods to grow, identify and feed mycelia to bees. With an expert mycologist, we will extend our initial single ID methods to again pursue MinION sequencing and determine the overall fungal diversity of samples. These will be obtained from other expert colleagues, initially, but ultimately are for anyone to contribute. We will also cultivate mycelia of polypores (and other control mushrooms, i.e. shiitake) to make inserts for BeeMoS hives, and follow the effects on the bees' health. The long term aim is open science investigations to help our world.

This proposal aims to not only extend projects at Hackuarium, but build knowledge and international collaborations of participatory research.