Fungi culturing techniques

Sangtiean, T. Schmidt, S. (2002). Growth of subtropical ECM fungi with different nitrogen sources using a new floating culture technique. Mycological Research, 16, 74-85. 

There are several cultural techniques you can use to reduce the chances of nematode problems. Rotate crops that are not prone to the same types of nematodes to keep pest populations low. Use clean tools and other good sanitation practices to minimize the spread of nematodes. Dig plenty of organic matter into your soil to promote populations of beneficial fungi that feed on nematodes. Look for plant species and cultivars that are resistant to nematode damage. 

In recent years, plant tissue culture techniques have been applied to the production of food colors. Also the pigments of two fungi Monascusanka SiMMonascus purpureas are being considered for use in foods. These fungal pigments have been used as food colors and medicines in the Far East for hundreds of years. 

The focus of this chapter is the development of a technique often called wholecell matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometry (MS) or whole-cell MALDI-TOF MS. Some groups prefer to use terms such as intact or unprocessed rather than whole, but the intended meaning is the same regardless of which word is used. As noted in the first chapter of this book, there are many different methods for the analysis of bacteria. However, for the analysis of intact or unprocessed bacteria, whole-cell MALDI-TOF MS is the most commonly used approach. This method is very rapid. MALDI-TOF MS analysis of whole cells takes only minutes because the samples can be analyzed directly after collection from a bacterial culture suspension. Direct MALDI MS analysis of fungi or viruses is similar in approach1,2 but is not covered in this chapter. MALDI-TOF MS of whole cells was developed with very rapid identification or differentiation of bacteria in mind. The name (whole cell) should not be taken to imply that the cells are literally intact or whole. Rather, it should be taken to mean that the cells that have not been treated or processed in any way specifically for the removal or isolation of any cellular components from any others. In whole-cell analysis the cells have been manipulated only as necessary to... 

Since the copolyamide contained two different amide bonds, both of which were similar, but not identical to a peptide bond, it was hoped that the extracellular enzymes of the bacteria or fungi would cleave the polymer to small fragments that could be utilized by the microoganisms as a food. In a fast screening technique, a culture of bacteria and/or fungi was fed a standard amount of hydrolyzed casein and the amount and rate of carbon dioxide liberated was monitored. In order to determine whether a material was biodegradable on the time scale used, the material was added to a similar flask and any increase in the rate or amount of carbon dioxide over the control was noted (5,6h... 

Every brain biopsy specimen should be handled in such a way that if inflammation is found at surgery, it will be possible to culture the tissue for bacteria, mycobacteria, and fungi and to use special stains, immunostain-ing techniques, and electron microscopy. This author s experience has been that for organisms that grow in vitro, microbiologic culture is preferable to histochemi-cal stains, IHC, or polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay if sampling of the lesion is uniform. Prior antibiotic treatment or non-uniform sampling of focal infection affects individual cases. 

Uhrathin sectioning is used to prepare specimens that are too large to view di-recdy with the electron beam, e.g., animal and plant tissues, fungi, bacteria and cultured cells, and organelle preparations. It is the basis for most of the im-munolabelling and in situ hybridization techniques. Both the theory and practice of uhrathin sectioning have been well described in a number of texts and laboratory manuals (28-31), so it is sufficient here to describe only the general procedure as a basis for the special applications for biochemical research. 

Humber RA. Fungi preservation of cultures. In Lacey L, ed. Manual of Techniques in Insect Pathology. San Diego, CA Academic Press, pp 269-279, 1997b. 

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