Sunday, August 3, 2008: 8:30 AM-5:00 PM
Wright B, Hilton
WK 10 - Sampling Fungi from the Environment: Challenges and Solutions
The Fungal Environmental Sampling and Informatics Network (FESIN; www.bio.utk.edu/fesin) is an NSF-funded network of mycologists and ecologists who are working together to evaluate the current use of genes as tools for fungal identification from environmental samples and to develop guidelines for the curation and naming of unknown fungi from environmental samples. This full-day workshop is for ecologists with some experience using molecular approaches for identification of microbes. The goals of the workshop are to highlight the key challenges of identifying fungi (and fungal sequences) collected in field studies and to work toward the development of strategies to overcome those challenges. This workshop will be the launching point for a "Methods in fungal ecology" wiki page to be served from the University of Tennessee with oversight by Dr. Karen Hughes. The workshop will include introductions to the challenges from both ecological and molecular genetic perspectives and guided discussion among workshop participants to address the following questions: (1) What are the limitations of rRNA genes and spacers for identification and what other loci might be used to supplement them? (2) How can we precisely, accurately, and efficiently identify and name environmental sequences of unknown fungi? (3) What are the gaps in current sequence databases, and how can we generate data to fill those gaps? (4) How should we curate and organize environmental samples and the data derived from them?
Organizer:Thomas Bruns, University of California, Berkeley
Co-organizers:Karen Hughes, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Elizabeth Arnold, University of Arizona
8:30 AMLimitations of current sequence data in fungal taxa guilds
Rytas Vilgayls, Duke University
9:00 AMMetadata needed for environmental sequences
A. Elizabeth Arnold, University of Arizona
9:30 AMClassifying environmental sequences: Why it's necessary and what needs to be done
Thomas D. Bruns, University of California
10:00 AMDiscussion of sequence classification and data issues
10:20 AMBreak
10:40 AMIdeas for automated identification of fungal OTUs
David Hibbett, Clark University
11:10 AMAutomated classification and ideas for expansion of RDB to fungal ITS
Jim Cole, Michigan State University
11:40 AMDiscussion of automated classification issues
12:00 PMLunch
1:00 PMFungi as part of an integrated microbial community
Noah Fierer, University of Colorado-Boulder
1:30 PMNanotechnological and molecular approaches for studying fungal activity
Kathleen K. Treseder, University of California, Irvine
2:00 PMMultilocus identification of environmental samples: How can we move beyond rDNA loci and maintain an organismal focus?
2:30 PMBreak
2:45 PMFESIN Steering Committee meeting

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See more of The 93rd ESA Annual Meeting (August 3 -- August 8, 2008)