The fine line between replicating cells and cancer, explained. Ah, that is a totally different kind of animal (pardon the pun). I don't see a distinction, however, between transmitting a disease vector from a person carrying the virus to another host, and the disease being transmissible. It is similar to a tuberculosis patient transmitting the bacterium from one person to the next; they may have no symptoms - no coughing, fatigue, fever, fluid on the lungs, etc. (analagous to a person who carries cancer-causing virus, but having no warts or tumors) to another person: The distinct cause of the disease is the TB bacteria (HPV virus). We make little distinction between being infected by other disease viruses (cold, influenza, HIV) and the condition; why are we still treating HPV and other cancer-causing viruses and the cancer itself? Do we have to start sprouting tumors to be considered "cancerous"? Why?
Essentially, the disease agent (cancer cells) and the infectious agent (virus particles) are not the same. Plant Biology » MycorWeb Fungal Genomics. I’ve tried to keep this blog reasonably up to date, but I am falling behind. I have said yes to too many things. I’ve tons of news on our projects in fungal genomics that may be of interest to you. I’ll do my best to cope with my backlog over the next few weeks. Let’s start with one of our consortium paper recently published investigating the evolution of the wood decay machinery in forest fungi.
An exciting blend of comparative genomics and paleomycology. The Paleozoic origin of enzymatic lignin decomposition reconstructed from 31 fungal genomes by Floudas et al. (2012) Science 336: 1715-1719 This is the first paper arising from the JGI Saprotrophic Agaricomycotina Project (SAP). The Wood Decay Machinery. Some historical background. The Major Findings. As in my previous genomics endeavours, I have personally learned a great deal in the course of this work, and I have enjoyed collaborating with so many expert colleagues. Other commentaries: Perspective: Chris Todd Hittinger. Fungal Biology » MycorWeb Fungal Genomics. Forest soils (including litter, humus and coarse woody debris) host diverse microbial communities that impact tree health and productivity, and which play pivotal roles in terrestrial carbon sequestration, and biogeochemical cycles. Among these microbial communities, fungi are undoubtly major players.
Traditionally, they have been divided into discrete ecological guilds, such as leaf litter-decomposers, humus saprobes, white- and brown-rot wood decayers, parasites and mycorrhizal symbionts. However, the actual functional properties of individual species, and the synergistic effects among them, are often obscure. Moreover, the basic biodiversity of the vast majority of soil systems (e.g., boreal forests and subartic taiga) remains unexplored using high-throughput DNA barcoding approaches. Metatranscriptome samples. Sampling will be conducted on selected stands in long-term observatories (LTOs) or national survey sites: Image (top): Denali Ntl Park, Alaska (© F Martin)
MycorWeb Fungal Genomics. The JGI User Meeting, Genomics of Energy and the Environment, will be held March 18-20 in Walnut Creek, CA. This year looks like a particularly exciting meeting, with great speakers and a diversity of interesting topics. The agenda and other details for this meeting can be found at The Saprotrophic Agaricomycetes Sequencing Consortium, lead by David Hibbett (Clark University) analyzed 10 currently available whole genomes of Polyporales, comparing them to known gene datasets.
In a special issue of Mycologia, the consortium reported the phylogenomic and phylogenetic analyses of this ecologically-important group of wood-rotters. This analysis yielded new details about the evolutionary relationships between species, which they detailed in several phylogenetic trees of several clades (residual polyporoid clade, plebioid clade, antrodia clade and core polyporoid clade). For the detailed meeting agenda please click here – Agenda Must read … [Abstract.