To the Greater Fusarium Research Community,
The Fungal Genetics Stock Center has for a number of years accepted and maintained a number of Fusarium strains as well as resources for working with Fusarium.
Because the USDA regulates work with Fusarium, we have maintained permits for receiving and holding Fusarium strains. Our current permit imposes a number of limitations on us including the following:
"Receipt and culture of foreign isolates is not authorized under this permit"
"This permit does not authorize the introduction, importation, interstate movement, or release into the environment of any genetically engineered organisms or products"
An earlier permit authorized the FGSC to move and import isolates from "worldwide sources to Kansas to be placed in a culture collection" and we received a permit to move the collection from Kansas to Missouri.
Because the newer permits are more stringent in their requirements, and because most modern research with filamentous fungi involves genetic engineering, we are seeking to involve the Fusarium research community in decisions pertaining to our maintenance of existing materials and acceptance of new materials, as we have done with other communities such as the Aspergillus community and Magnaporthe community. The Policy Statement of the Magnaporthe Advisory Committee is available as a guideline.
Prior to expanding a collection beyond a few type strains, we request the members of a community to develop an Advisory Board to the FGSC to define criteria to determine what strains and materials should be maintained by the stock center, who will be the keeper of a backup copy of the collection and to attempt to secure funding to assist the Stock Center.
This is also more important as a number of researchers with extensive collections are facing retirement in the next ten years.
Because we do not have an Advisory Committee for Fusarium and because of the issues surrounding work with genetically engineered strains, the FGSC will no longer accept for deposit or distribute strains whose status is questionable because of their genotype or origin.
We have been informed by the USDA that genome libraries or individual clones from such libraries are not considered to be "genetically engineered products." As such, we will continue to distribute cloned Fusarium material as well as genomic DNA from Fusarium.
Finally, as there are three collections in the US that accept Fusarium for deposit, we would like to ensure that resources are deposited in the most appropriate and accessible collection.
3/7/07 KMC