Marine Discovery

Been having a great time this week- trying to ignore politics and transformation issues at UA. SO, been enjoying taking my 6th and 8th graders to Marine Discovery. The kids have been loving it. For some, even though their middle school is right across the street, it is the first time they've been on campus. I only hope the memory sticks with them a long time. Peace.

I just can't believe this is an issue

And I am frankly disheartened that Palin and McCain think that "teaching the controversy" is even a reasonable suggestion. To be sure, McCain is less biased here, and has stated he "believes in" evolution. I am even a bit turned off when people say they "believe" in evolution. Folks, it has nothing to do with belief and has everything to do with experimentation, observation and critical thinking. Science, in other words.

And we wonder why the US has fallen behind most other industrialized nations in sciences and engineering??

Eurotiomycetes are my favorite

In 1997 Ericksson and Winka described the class Eurotiomycetes when new ordinal descriptions of the Ascomycota were completed. At the time, only a single order, Eurotiales, was assigned to the class. Over the last ten years, a more complete picture has developed, such that the most recent analysis shows that the class contains at least two subclasses, Eurotiomycetidae and Chaetothyriomycetidae, based on a five gene Bayesian tree (Geiser et al. 2006).
The number of orders contained in the class has also increased. The Eurotiales is still a well-supported order, now placed within the subclass Eurotiomycetidae. In addition, the Onygenales, a previously recognized order in the Plectomycetes (the previous class name) containing many vertebrate pathogens, is a member of the Eurotiomycetidae (Kuraishi et al. 2000). There are an additional 3 orders that will likely be placed in that subclass, the Ascosphearales, Aracnomycetales, and Coryneliales (Gibas et al. 2002, Geiser et al. 2006). The other subclass, Chaetothyriomycetidae, contains three well-supported orders, Chaetothyriales, Verrucariales and Pyrenulales (Tree of Life 2007, Haase et al. 1995). The last order contained in the Eurotiomycetes, the Mycocaliciales, may be a subclass, as it appears to be a sister taxon to the Eurotiomycetidae and Chaetothyriomycetidae, but that observation is based on too few data at this time and thus it is still included within the Chaetothyriomycetidae (Geiser et al. 2006).
The ancestral state of Ascomycota is uncertain and debated (James et al. 2006). The subphylum Taphrinomycotina is the most likely basal group of the Ascomycota (Liu and Hall 2004). This group is highly variable in lifestyle, form and biochemistry. Thus, the ancestral state for the subphylum Pezizomycotina, the group that contains the Eurotiomycetes, is unclear. It has been stated that lichen containing groups must be derived from lichenized ancestors, due to lower rates of gain of lichenized habit than loss (Lutzoni 2001). From that statement, the ancestor to Pezizomycotina must be a lichenized fungus, as this group contains the lineages leading to lichenized fungi. However, due to the high degree of variation in the taxa of the photobionts, and the form and distribution of the lichenized fungi within the group, one could argue that convergent evolution could also explain the pattern observed.
The field of fungal phylogenetics is in the early stages of clarifying relationships among groups. In addition, sampling of these various groups is incomplete. However, recent work on the Eurotiomycete lineage is developing a clearer picture of the organization within that group (Geiser et al. 2006, James et al. 2006). Within the framework of these analyses, patterns of lifestyle can now be added into the analysis to develop hypotheses regarding the likely ancestral state of the Eurotiomycetes.

School starts today

Hard to believe, but this might actually be my last year of school. I've been a professional student for 20 years now, I guess it is time to move on. OK, in actuality, I've had real jobs during that time. I've done the 9 to 5 thing. Didn't really like it. Sure the security is nice. Getting paid vacation. Benefits. Maybe not worrying about affording to go to the doctor. Maybe.

But it feels good. I am ready. I hope I can make it back to Montana.

Update Vol. 2- the scientific part

I attended a Gordon research Conference entitled “Cellular and Molecular Fungal Biology” at the Holderness School in Holderness New Hampshire, June 29th -July 4th, 2008. The stated goal of the conference is to provide a forum for presentation of the latest advances in fungal research with a particular emphasis on filamentous and pathogenic fungi. The meeting brought together leading mycologists from around the world to discuss current research and future directions in fungal biology. A benefit to me was the ability to discuss my research on a less genetically tractable fungus, Coccidioides posadasii, with scientists working on model systems, such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The small meeting environment was particularly beneficial for graduate students and postdocs, who often don’t get the opportunity to meet and have in depth discussions with leaders in the field at larger meetings, such as the American Society for Microbiology.

The first session focused on pathogen strategies for overcoming host defenses. A common theme was the similarity in signaling pathways among very distantly related fungi. The next session was concerned with cellular biology of fungi. An important aspect of this session was the unique ways that researchers are using microscopy to visualize cellular processes. The evening session was primarily focused on the interactions between the organism and the environment. Again, signaling plays a major role, and conservation among very distantly related groups shows the utility of model systems to begin to understand how fungi sense and respond to the environment. The next day, the focus was on how there is a fine line between the fungus as a pathogen, and the fungus as a symbiont. Often, the pathways are shared, as even a symbiont must overcome host defenses. The last session of the day was focused on the cell surface interface- the part of the fungus that contains unique molecules that are recognized by the host. The next day was focusing in the biochemistry of fungi- an area I am most unfamiliar with, so it was a great learning experience for me. The evening session was devoted to morphogenesis, an area that I am familiar with. It was interesting to hear that the switch from isotropic to polar growth is often associated with pathogenesis, as it is the opposite in my system. Finally, the last day was devoted to genomics. This was the best session for me, as it directly applied to my research. In addition, I was invited to present my research in the last session of the day, and my talk was well received. I interacted with many scientists over the course of the meeting, and have made permanent connections in the field of mycology.