The Hyphal Tip: Fungal Genomes and Comparative Genomics

Paul Stamets thinks so and he's done work to make this happen.  The founder of FungiPerfecti and author many books on mushroom cultivation spoke at a TED talk recently that is worth taking a look. 

Depleted uranium (DU) from spent ammunition used in the conflicts in Iraq and the Balkans poses a health risk to the inhabitants of those regions. This paper in Current Biology from Marina Fomina et al shows that several species of fungi including one from the mycorrhizal genus Rhizopogon

NYT article on the work of Paul Stamets using fungi like Pleurotus for Dioxin cleanup in Ft Bragg, CA.

Thanks for the link Pat!

An article in Applied Environmental Biology describes work characterizing microorganisms that degrade materials used to preserve cultural heritage objects. These are some heavy duty synthetic compounds which are commonly used to preserve or treat wood, cover objects to protect them from moisture, light, and avoid direct attack by microbes. This article describes some interesting findings of the types of organisms that attack these preservation materials. Table 1 lists fungi like Aureobasidium pullulans which can degrade Polyvinyl chloride, Chaetomium globosum which has enzymes (someone make sure and describe all of these in the genome sequence) to dissolve Polyurethane, several wood degrading fungi that break down Nylon (Phanerochaete can break down diesel fuel), and melanin producing fungi (like Cryptococcus?) that destroy acrylics.

A recent paper in PLoS One entitled Ionizing Radiation Changes the Electronic Properties of Melanin and Enhances the Growth of Melanized Fungi describes some pretty amazing results that have gotten some press lately. The lead author, Dr Dadachova, spoke on NPR's Science Friday last week.