Mycological Laboratory
Description of the Group:
The group is mostly interested in evolutionary old lineages of land fungi (Mucoromycotina and Mortierellomycotina) and their interactions with bacteria. These fungi are common and can be found in various habitats all around the world. The vast majority of them are organisms that degrade dead organic matter. In recent years, it has been discovered that some fungi from these groups may contain bacteria inside their hyphae. However, the diversity and factors influencing the frequency of occurrence or the effect on the host of these bacteria remain poorly understood.
The group’s interests focus on interactions between organisms. On the one hand, they are interested in the influence of bacterial microbiomes on insect-fungal interactions. On the other hand, they study the influence of endohyphal bacteria on the evolution, ecology, and physiology of Mucoromycota representatives, focusing on their adaptation to extreme environments (Arctic, Antarctic, alpine habitats). One of the environments that they are particularly interested in is the plastisphere.
They study the diversity of fungi on plastics and try to determine how these fungi affect them. Finally, they are also interested in fungi and their accompanying bacteria, which may be involved in food fermentation and food produced with their participation.
In their research, they use both classical culturing methods and modern molecular methods (genomics, transcriptomics, metabolic modeling) paired with bioinformatic tools.
Moreover, they are working on DNA barcoding and mapping the distribution of fungi in Poland and Europe. They are particularly interested in the engagement of citizen scientists in biodiversity discovery.
Website: https://ibe.biol.uw.edu.pl/en/835-2/research-groups/mycology/
Research Equipment:
| Equipment Name | Contact Person / Room Number | |
| 1 | Mobile laboratory of environmental genetics (https://ibe.biol.uw.edu.pl/en/labs/mobilelab/ | dr Karolina Grabowska, room: 4.145, e-mail: k.grabowska7@uw.edu.pl |
| 2 | MinION – nanopore sequencing set | dr Karolina Grabowska, room: 4.145, e-mail: k.grabowska7@uw.edu.pl |
| 3 | Bioreactor Applikon 15l for culturing microorganisms with automatic control of parameters | mgr Grzegorz Ostrowski, room: 4.161, r-mail: g.ostrowski@uw.edu.pl |
Research Interests:
- Interactions between fungi and bacteria;
- Evolution and ecology of Mucoromycotina and Mortierellomycotina;
- Taxonomy and systematics of Fungi;
- Engagement of citizen scientists in monitoring and mapping of fungal diversity;
- Fungal adaptations to extreme environments;
- Interactions between insects, fungi and bacteria.
Significant Achievements:
Apart from the development of a new phylogenetic classification of Mucorales, the group’s most interesting discovery is the detection of a new lineage of fungus-interacting bacteria inhabiting Umbelopsis spp. hyphae. They also demonstrated that while previously reported endohyphal bacteria of Mucoromycota seem to have coevolved with their fungal hosts, Paraburkholderia symbionts probably did not, making this interaction much more flexible in changing environmental conditions.