Fungal Researchers Win 10 Gigs of Sequence Data

Jul 28, 2009

Fungal Researchers Win 10 Gigs of Sequence Data

Earlier this year, Roche Applied Science sponsored a contest with a prize of 10 GB of sequence data obtained with a 454 Life Science’s Genome Sequencer FLX System. One of the winning teams plans to use the grant to perform an analysis of fungal gardens maintained by leaf cutter ants. The other winning team is working on African sleeping sickness.

From the article Roche Applied Science awards two research teams access to their genome sequencing system, by Erin Podolak (06/26/2009):

“…Nicole Gerardo from Emory University, Cameron Currie from the University of Wisconsin, and George Weinstock from Washington University in St. Louis, will perform metagenomic analysis of the fungal gardens formed by leaf-cutter ants, which use the fungi as a food source. The practice of fungal farming by the ants utilizes symbiotic relationships between farmers, crops, microbes, and pathogens…”