Plant Pathogen Fungi Timelapse

I recently isolated and sequenced this mold (Sclerotinia sclerotiorum) from a bag of salad here in South Los Angeles.

Aside from this fungus being a powerful plant pathogen, the mycelium organizes to form sclerotia (the little black physical structures) that it uses to produce spores and to save food.

Many people don't realize that much of the food they eat and consume, whether from a grocery store or fresh organics from the Farmers Market, contains fungi. This fungi can remain dormant but viable long after harvest. In this case, this bag of lettuce was left a little too long on the fridge and the cold moist conditions offered a chance for this latent organism to proliferate.

You can learn about this fungi on it's wiki page:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sclerot...

For a full observation of this organism with links to its DNA sequence, visit:
https://mushroomobserver.org/478630

CONNECT:
Subscribe to this YouTube channel
LinkedIn:   / joshuamcginnis  
Instagram:   / everymanbio  
Website: https://everymanbio.com/
Patreon:   / everymanbio