Abstract Detail

Fungal functional traits in a changing world

Herr, Joshua [1].

Mining Metagenomes for Mycological Relevance - Finding Fungal Functions within Environmental Samples.

It has long been understood that fungi contribute to many key ecosystem processes. Despite their important ecological roles, there is a paucity of information regarding their taxonomic and functional diversity in comparison to other Eukaryotic organisms. This is due largely to the fact that many fungi are unculturable, lack known sexual structures, and are known only by their nucleotide fingerprints. Next-generation sequencing technologies have revolutionized our abilities to use sequence data to address ecological and physiological questions, but identifying both taxonomic and functional diversity of the fungi has been hampered by technical hurdles.  In this presentation I will outline recent technical advances in metagenome assembly and how we can use computational algorithms and data analysis strategies to identify the fungal component of environmental samples.  By “sifting” through large publically available datasets and identifying fungal nucleotide sequences derived from metagenomes, I provide a framework for taxonomic and functional diversity of the fungi using rDNA amplicon, whole-genome-shotgun, and meta-transcriptomic sequencing data.

1 - Michigan State University, Department of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics, 191 Food Safety & Toxicology Building, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, 48823, United States

Keywords:
Metagenomics
functional trait
NGS (next-generation sequencing)
Environmental sequencing.

Presentation Type: Symposium or Colloquium Presentation
Session: SY1
Location: Auditorium/Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center
Date: Monday, June 9th, 2014
Time: 5:00 PM
Number: SY1005
Abstract ID:204
Candidate for Awards:None