The program for the FGC is at the printers and today I posted it online. It is a 2.5M pdf. Abstracts for posters and plenary talks are also online in html format.  The program for the Aspergillus satellite meeting is also online.  Having these done is a big load off my back.

I alluded to scorpion toxins in my 3/5 posting. Check out Ray St. Leger's poster (#449).  They have expressed a scorpion toxin gene in Metarhizium anisopliae which renders the fungus 22X more virulent against crop destroying caterpillars. That's science in action!

Also of note, G. Adams and M. Taga  independently used flow cytometry to show that strains of Phytophthora infestans varied in DNA content (posters 31 and 588). Many years ago, we used flow cytometry to confirm variation in DNA content of Ustilago hordei sporidia. CHEF gels showed a 30% variablity in DNA content but we never did publish the figure shown on the left. These strains ARE sexually compatible. Maybe Ustilago hordei does not have MSUD. Maybe this technology has other applications in fungi.

3/5/07

Well, I must be having fun, as time sure has flown. Actually, I have been working on the program book for the upcoming Fungal Genetics Conference at Asilomar as well as the program for the Aspergillus meeting to be held just before the Asilomar meeting.

These meetings look to be very interesting and include things as diverse as the origins of virulence, using scorpion toxins to kill plant pests, making strains that are better at industrial production and how fungal genomes can enlighten us. All in all, there should be more than any mere mortal can assimilate. I am reminded of the parable:

	A specialist knows more and more about less and less until eventually he
	knows everything about nothing.

	A generalist know less and less about more and more until eventually he	
	knows nothing about everything.

This is attributed to E.E. Smith, a science fiction author. 

The Fungal Genetics Conference is organized with Plenary sessions in the morning, where Specialists will try to talk like Generalists followed by concurrent sessions in the afternoon where Specialists get to be Specialists.

One high point of the meeting will be the Saturday Night appearance of the Amplified DNA Band!