Host identities and other exciting updates
Hey everyone, I’m getting closer to answering several of my main questions. Here are the ones I can begin to address with this blog post: 1) What are the hosts of Hypomyces lactifluorum , the lobster mushroom mold parasite? 2) Do genetic lineages of the parasite specialize on different host species? 3) Is the white lobster mushroom, named as the separate species Hypomyces macrosporus without DNA data, really its own species or just a color morph of H. lactifluorum ? I’ve had to use a hodgepodge of techniques to obtain enough parasite and host DNA to use for this project, including Sanger sequencing (the more “old-fashioned” sequencing technique) of the ITS gene, Illumina high-throughput sequencing to metabarcode the ITS gene, and whole-genome Illumina high-throughput sequencing. Different techniques worked for different samples, and I have very few clues as to why I found this variation. Just a few more mysteries to throw on the huge pile of fascinating questions in fungal genet...