This award renews support of the Fungal Genetics Stock Center (FGSC), a collection of filamentous fungi that has been supported by NSF since 1960. The FGSC includes almost 9,000 strains consisting mainly of strains of Neurospora crasa and Aspergillus nidulans with known mutations, as well as a few mutant strains of other fungi, primarily Sordaria fimicola. Most basic research into the biology of filamentous fungi makes use of one of these organisms. In addition to these strains, the collection maintains stocks of isolated DNAs and libraries of fragments of genomic DNA and cDNA in bacteriophage vectors. During the period of the award, a collection of mutants of Magneporthe grisea, a fungus responsible for rice blast, a major disease of rice, will be added to the collection. In recent years, this fungus has become an important genetic model system for study of plant disease processes of interest to both basic and applied researchers. Samples of the collection are available to academic and other researchers on request. A modest fee is charged for samples to help cover the cost of operation of the collection. The FGSC maintains a website (http: www.kumc.edu/research/fgsc/) that provides information about the collection's contents and publications.
