Announcements from the FGSC
The FGSC is located at the
School of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri, Kansas City
Meeting announcements
Archives
2005-2006
4/28/09
Jay Dunlap of Dartmouth College has been elected into the US National Academy of Sciences.
4/8/09
The USDA Biotechnology Regulatory Service has announced the extension of the
comment period relating to their modification of the rules pertaining to the
importation, interstate movement, or release of genetically engineered regulated
organisms. This means that the rules for sharing knock-out strains of plant
pathogenic micro-organisms are being reviewed. Take the opportunity to
review the proposed changes and
submit your comment (using the "add comment" button) prior to June 29, 2009.
The proposed regulations are explicitely science based and define more clearly how an organism becomes subject to their review and emphasize the biology of the organism being genetically engineered. They specificy consider whether the organism causes injury to plants or whether it has been engineered to be more pathogenic to plants.
1/6/09
It is with great surprise and sadness that we have learned that
Professor Maruthi Mohan of Osmania University passed away January 6,
2009.
Dr. Mohan, who was 54 years old, was participating in a tennis
tournament in Vizag, India and died of an apparent heart attack during a
practice session.
Dr. Mohan had a close relationship with the FGSC having worked on metal
metabolism in Neurospora during his time at KU Med Center from
1987-1989. He worked on metal metabolism in fungi for many years and
published over 40 papers. He had many students and supervised four PhD
dissertations.
Dr. Mohan contributed many photos of Neurospora in the environment to
the Neurospora home page and they are online
here.
His contribution and collegial demeanor will be missed by
all.
11/3/08
MICROBIOLOGY
Special issue on fungal physiology
Call for papers
The field of fungal physiology is about to enter an unprecedented era. New genomics-based tools and resources are generating vast amounts of phenotypic data that reflect the effects of gene deletions on the physiology of the fungal cell. In addition, large-scale systems biology and metabolomic studies are now feasible and will also be yielding immense volumes of data.
To highlight progress towards understanding the inner working of the fungal cell, Microbiology will publish a special issue in November 2009 devoted to fungal physiology. In addition to commissioned reviews, this issue will include original research manuscripts that focus on some aspect of fungal physiology. All manuscripts will be subject to normal peer review. Submissions are invited from mid-March 2009. The deadline for submissions is 1 June 2009.
To register your interest in submitting a manuscript for this special issue, please send an email to the Organizing Editor, Dr Steven Harris (sharri1@unlnotes.unl.edu) or to the Editorial Office (micro@sgm.ac.uk).
For further details about the journal, including Instructions for Authors, visit our website at:
http://mic.sgmjournals.org
10/13/08
Ode to an Ectopic Fungal Mutant (Pmk1-61)
By Ormonde Waters (ACNFP)
Thy hyphae fair didst bloom upon my plate
Of medium minimal, yet enough to grow.
And with selective fungicides to ensure
Lest non-transformants would contaminate.
In Stygian darkness, but near-UV also
I nourished you and waited you to spoor.
A picture portrait I did make of you,
Your handsome colours did my eye delight
And I did hope that you might be the one!
An homologous recombinant mutant – Oh so true
On you an Honours chapter I would write
And you a thesis cover would become.
Alas! By PCR you proved ectopic
And now you moulder in a bin necrotic.
Note: During my Honours year I was endeavouring to clone the Stagonospora nodorum orthologue of the Magnaporthe grisea pathogenicity MAP kinase gene Pmk1 (Xu and Hamer, 1996) by degenerate PCR, followed by targeted gene disruption. It was demonstrated that the Mak2 gene was required for pathogenicity in S. nodorum (Solomon et al, 2005). During the screening of the transformants there was a number of in vitro phenotype exhibited. One of these was very pretty but ultimately turned out to be an ectopic insertion and was sent to the autoclave. When an Art in Science competition was announced, it presented an opportunity to redress a possible injustice!
7/2/08
We would like to provide an update on the status of Rowland Davis, a scientific leader and beloved member of the Neurospora community. About a month ago Rowland had a serious stroke at his home in Laguna Beach, California. He was in the intensive care unit of a nearby hospital for about two weeks and was then transfered to the acute care facility of Kindred Hospital in Westminster, California. His condition is now stable. It appears that he still has some paralysis and is not yet able to speak. His wife, Margot Norris, has asked those who wish to send messages to do so in the form of cards or letters. These can be sent to 3158 Bern Dr., Laguna Beach, CA 92651. Margot has been taking cards and letters and reading them to Rowland.
Job Postings
5/20/09
Postdoctoral Fellow
Quantitative and Molecular Genetics
A postdoctoral associate position in the field of Quantitative/Molecular
genetics and genomics is available in the Department of Biology, Center
for Computational & Integrative Biology at
Rutgers University. The successful candidate will have the opportunity
to work on identifying and characterizing novel clock components using
quantitative genetics/genomics and molecular approaches. Candidates with
doctoral degrees in genetics, molecular biology, or related fields with
strong training in a quantitative field, such as statistics,
biostatistics, bioinformatics are encouraged to apply. This project is
funded by NSF for three years. Applicants should submit a statement of
research interests, curriculum vitae, pdf files of publication, and
contact information of three references to Kwangwon Lee (kwang1@camden.rutgers.edu).
Reference:
Kim T-S, Logsdon BA, Park S, Mezey JG, Lee K. 2007 Quantitative trait
loci for the circadian clock in Neurospora crassa. Genetics
177:2335-2347.
Michael TP, Park S, Kim T-S, Booth J, Byer A, Sun Q, Chory J, Lee K.
2007 Simple sequence repeats provide a substrate for phenotypic
variation in the Neurospora crassa circadian clock. PLoS ONE 2: e795
Kim T-S, Booth J, Gauch HGJ, Sun Q, Park J, Lee Y-H, Lee K. 2008 Simple
sequence repeats in Neurospora crassa: distribution, polymorphism and
evolutionary inference. BMC Genomics 9:31.
3/6/09
Multiple faculty positions at
Midwestern University
MWU has two campuses, Downers Grove, Illinois and Glendale,
Arizona which house state-of-the-art educational facilities and are
located near the rich professional and cultural resources of major
metropolitan centers. Programs include osteopathic medicine, pharmacy,
physician assistant studies, physical therapy, occupational therapy,
biomedical sciences, bioethics, health professions education, and
cardiovascular science/perfusion.
https://online.midwestern.edu/public/jobslist.cgi
2/9/09
POSTDOC POSITION TO STUDY TELOMERE INSTABILITY IN MAGNAPORTHE ORYZAE
Background to the project:
We have found that Magnaporthe isolates from perennial ryegrass have highly unstable telomeres. This instability is associated with the presence in the telomeres of two retroelements, which we have named MoTERs. To date, we have shown that one of the MoTER elements is an active transposon that inserts specifically at telomeres. We have also found that not all telomere rearrangements are caused by transposon insertions, with some being due to truncation and others to insertion of other transposons into the MoTER elements. Telomere-targeted transposons have been reported in a handful of other organisms and are actively studied in Drososphila and Bombyx.
M.oryzae offers a number of advantages over these two systems - most notably lower element copy numbers, strains that lack the elements, and facile gene KOs. As a result, the study of MoTER elements promises to yield insights into telomere-targeted transposition that cannot be gained so easily in the other organisms. Consequently, we expect our system to develop into one of the premier models for studying telomeric transposons. Finally, the project also touches on general telomere biology, and as such will provide a "filamentous fungal" perspective on this crucial chromosome maintenance system.
Current research is focused on addressing the following questions:
1) What types of genetic rearrangements are responsible for the
frequent changes that we observe in telomeric restriction patterns? We
have developed efficient protocols for targeted cloning of specific
chromosome ends and have already characterized a number of newly-formed
telomeres.
2) Can telomeric transposons substitute for the normal telomere repeats?
Destruction of the telomere repeats through deletion of the telomerase
(TERT) gene makes an M. oryzae strain that lacks MoTER elements very
sick. We plan to test whether M oryzae strains with MoTER elements are
better able to cope with TERT KO-mediated telomere loss.
3) Are the transposons activated in response to telomere damage? MoTER
elements seem to be transcribed at extremely low levels, suggesting that
they are repressed by a telomere position effect (TPE). We will test
whether their transcription is turned on in response to telomere damage.
In addition, we will delete genes that are known to be responsible for
the TPE in other organisms.
4) Can we move an active transposon into a strain that lacks them? In
order to study functional regions within the MoTER transposon sequences,
we need to be able to introduce MoTER elements into strains that lack
them. In this way, it will be easy to identify newly transposed copies.
To this end, we will develop a transposition reporter system to select
for colonies containing new insertions.
We have already made significant progress in addressing all of these
questions and many of the required constructs (and in many cases, the KO
strains) are already in hand. Therefore, the successful candidate should
be able to hit the ground running.
Applicants should have a Ph.D. in a related field and the ideal
candidate will have had broad training in fungal molecular biology.
To apply, applicants should send (as e-mail attachments) a cover letter,
a resume or a CV, including the names, titles, addresses, and telephone
numbers of three professional references. They should also attach copies
of any manuscripts that have been published or are in press.
Please send application materials to:
Mark L Farman
Associate Professor
Department of Plant Pathology
1405 Veteran's Dr.
University of Kentucky
Lexington, KY 40546
Tel: (859) 257 7445 x 80728
fax: (859) 323 1961
The University of Kentucky is an equal opportunity employer.
Meeting Announcements
August 5- 21, 2009, Woods Hole,
Massachusetts
Molecular Mechanisms of Fungal Cell
Wall Biogenesis
August 30th - September 3, 2009
Warsaw, Poland
Xth International Fungal Biology
Conference
Dec 6-10, 2009. Ensenada, Mexico
Biology of Yeasts and Filamentous Fungi
December 12-14, 2009. Hyderabad, India
10th European Conference on Fungal Genetics
March 29- April 1, 2010
NH Conference Center,
Leeuwenhorst, Netherlands
Neurospora 2010
April 8-11, 2010
"Cellular
and Molecular Fungal Biology" Gordon Research Conference
June 13-18, 2010, Holderness, NH
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4/20/09 KMC