Home • Alternaria sp. Myco 013-3.2 v1.0
Alternaria sp. Myco 013-3.2 growing on potato dextrose agar. Image by Jose Gonzalez. See <a href="https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/191216313">iNaturalist observation</a> for more details.
Alternaria sp. Myco 013-3.2 growing on potato dextrose agar. Image by Jose Gonzalez. See iNaturalist observation for more details.

Alternaria sp. Myco 013-3.2 was sequenced as part of the Myco-Ed program. It was isolated from Cornus sericea by Jose Gonzalez during Fall, 2023 as part of BIOL 4050-5050 (Fungal Biology) taught by Dr. Sara Branco and Dr. Andy Wilson at University of Colorado at Denver.

Myco-Ed (Mycological Curriculum for Education and Discovery) is a Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) which seeks to enhance fungal biology and genomics training in undergraduate teaching labs. In this program, students isolate environmental fungi, phenotype them and analyze results in the lab. Then, through a collaborative effort between the Arizona Genomics Institute and the JGI, genomes from a subset of those cultures are produced. The genomes are then used by students to learn the basics of comparative genomics and navigation of big data platforms. Beyond -omics training, the data generated as part of this work will improve the quality and breadth of publicly available fungal genomes, and allow students to directly contribute to impactful genome science. This CURE is designed to be both accessible and flexible. Regardless of institutional facilities, instructors can participate at any stage of the Myco-Ed workflow and all protocols/training modules are freely available.

Students are welcome to pursue honors theses or research for peer-review publication using any Myco-Ed produced genome. If this is the case, to facilitate coordination amongst participants please contact Stephen Mondo ([email protected]), the student who isolated the genome(s), and their instructor (see the Collaborators section on the Info page for contact details).

Interested in getting involved in Myco-Ed? Please contact Stephen Mondo ([email protected]) to learn more!