How do I find things that are not in the FGSC collection ?
How do I order from the FGSC ?
What to I need to know before I ship biological materials ?
What can I do to support the FGSC ?
The Fungal Genetics Stock Center is a resource available to the Fungal Genetics research community and to educational and research organizations in general. The FGSC is funded largely by a grant from the National Science Foundation (Award Number 0235887) of the United States of America and to a lesser extent by the payments made by researchers who use our services.
The Fungal Genetics Stock Center was established to preserve strains that were finding important use in genetics research. The concern was present in the Fungal Genetics research community that strains used in the 40's and 50's were in danger of being lost as the researchers who had generated them retired or moved on to other areas of inquiry. The FGSC was founded in 1960 at Dartmouth College. The first support was a three year grant of $32,300. Dr. Raymond Barratt was the first Director. Since its days at Dartmouth, the FGSC has moved three times, first to California State University, Humboldt, then in 1985 to the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas, and finally to the University of Missouri, Kansas City in 2004.
In 1960 there were approximately 400 strains at the FGSC. Now there are over 10,000 Neurospora strains, a growing number of Neurospora knock-outs, over 2,000 Aspergillus strains and various representatives of other fungi. Additionally, the FGSC has cloned genes, and gene libraries. In early 2001, we added strains of Magnaporthe grisea and molecular tools for working with them. In 2003 and 2004, we accepted nearly 50,000 Magnaporthe knock out mutants. To receive genetically engineered plant pathogens, the recipient must have permits (in the US these are USDA APHIS PPQ526 and Biotechnology form 2000).
For more information, please see
McCluskey, K. 2003. The Fungal Genetics Stock Center:
from Molds to Molecules.
In "Advances in Applied Microbiology Volume 52" (Laskin and Bennett, Eds.)
Elsevier USA. pp 246-262
While some fungi can cause disease in humans, most people have innate immunity against fungi. Some people with diseases of the immune system are at increased risk of infection by fungi. Drugs have been developed in the last 5 years that help with this.
The FGSC has been the subject of numerous newspaper and magazine articles.
Most fungal strains in the FGSC collection are
listed in the online
searches.
Some people may prefer to browse the
FGSC catalog online.
Molecular materials are listed both in the catalog and online.
The FGSC is also listed in the international bioportal, Straininfo.net
Specific groups of materials are listed by category:
Neurospora
Aspergillus
Fusarium and Magnaporthe
Ustilago
Cryptococcus
Other Fungi
Clones and gene libraries
Strains from sequencing programs
Some resources at the FGSC are held in a 'deposit-storage-distribute' manner. They include the following:
The Tatum lyophil
collection
The Perkins Wild type and Silica gel collections
The Perkins Ustilago collection
The Emerson Allomyces
collection
Neurospora stocks from Fred deSerres, Ann Lacy, Mary Case, John Fincham, Rowland
Davis
Aspergillus nidulans temperature sensitive mutant set from Steve Harris.
If you are interested in these materials, please contact the FGSC.
In addition to biological materials, the FGSC has some additional resources including genomic DNA, race tubes, Vogels salts and more.
We do not have edible fungi. Find those at www.fungi.com (though no endorsement is implied). We will not provide fungi for human consumption, or to individuals without a valid institutional affiliation.
We do not have clinical fungi. Those can be found at the ATCC or other collections.
The best way to order from the FGSC is to use the online order form. If you need, you may FAX orders to (816) 235-6561 or call directly at (816) 235-6485.
You need not have an account or pre-pay for materials.
Fees are described online. These supersede any other fee lists.
If you need a pro-forma invoice, please
contact the FGSC. We will
send an invoice with the materials and this may be paid by check,
online credit card,
or by wire transfer.
The FGSC considers all material in the collection to be in the public domain. We
have no formal Material Transfer Agreement, but
we do require that you cite the FGSC
in any publication arising from work with materials from the collection.
Some FGSC policies including strain availability and strain deposit are described here. In addition to the policy descriptions, this document contains information about strain descriptions and symbols used in describing the genetic backgrounds of strains.
Depositing materials at the FGSC
We solicit deposit of cloned fungal genes, gene libraries, and cultures on which genetic or biochemical information is published or in press. We invite suggestions of valuable stocks which should be included. A deposit sheet can be downloaded from the FGSC web site. If you have a large number of strains to deposit, a database may replace these forms. Please contact the FGSC before sending any plant or human pathogens, or large collections of materials. The FGSC has a limited policy on restriction of strain distribution.
Please read the WFCC statement on shipping biological materials
In general, you may ship strains of non-pathogenic fungi including Neurospora and its relatives, Aspergillus nidulans, A. niger, Rhizopus, Coprinus, Pichia, Saccharomyces or other BSL-1 organism without special permits. Private couriers are preferred over the postal service. Any BSL-2 organism needs to be shipped in protective packaging including a double-walled container that will prevent the escape of the organism if the culture should become breached. They need to be marked "UN3373 Biological Substance Category B" to indicate that they are biologicals but not hazardous materials. Please see the CDC guidelines for more information.
The FGSC has been supported since 1960 by the Living Stock Collection program, at the National Science Foundation. Additional support comes from the fees we charge to our users. To support the accessioning of large numbers of Neurospora knock-out mutants, the FGSC receives funds from the NIH Neurospora Functional Genomics program.
In 2006, the FGSC established the FGSC Endowment fund at the Genetics Society of America.
There are typically three scientists associated with the FGSC; Dr. Mike Plamann is the Director and an Associate Professor in the School of Biological Sciences at UMKC. Dr. Kevin McCluskey is the curator of the FGSC and a Research Associate Professor.
Mr. Aric Wiest is the Assistant Curator. Mr. Wiest got his MS from Texas A&M University and has worked at the FGSC for over 2 years. Mr. Matt Kinney is a Research Assistant at the FGSC. He graduated from the University of Kansas and prior to joining the staff at the FGSC worked at the Community Blood Bank.
The FGSC has an advisory board for oversight.
What can I do to support the FGSC?
The FGSC relies on its user community to deposit materials that are useful. While we do charge fees for the materials we distribute, the most meaningful statistics that demonstrate our usefulness are the numbers of orders we receive and the numbers of citations they generate. Please deposit materials for which you receive requests from colleagues or if you are moving on to a new research area.
We keep track of articles that cite the FGSC. If you wish to cite the FGSC in publication, please refer to the following guidelines.
Although information at the FGSC web site may mention specific vendors or their products, this is for identification purposes only and does not imply that the FGSC or the NSF endorses any particular product or vendor.
04/08 KMC