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First of all, I would like to express my gratitude for the BSPP in supporting my participation at the conference through the travel funding award. The Fungal Genetics Conference is organised by the Genetics Society of America (GSA), a renowned professional organisation that serves as one of the main network channels for evolutionary scientists worldwide. This biennial conference represents one of the most important and most awaited conferences in the field of fungal evolution and biology, gathering hundreds of scientists from diverse parts of the world at the beautiful Asilomar Conference Grounds in Pacific Grove, California. In this edition, more than 800 scientists were present coming from over 30 countries.
Not only the beautiful and sunny days made the meeting incredible but also the great science shared among attendees. The conference covered a vast selection of scientific topics including the use of fungi in the biotech sector, fungal adaptation to extreme environments, comparative and functional genomics as well as insights from cellular biology to pathogenic and mutualistic interactions of fungi with plants and other organisms. The plenary talks and concurrent sessions also had a good balance between early career researchers and more established scientists, which could nicely show how different generations are advancing the field of fungal biology and evolution with distinct perspectives.
Although many talks featured the latest advances in science and technology, some older methodologies were also highlighted. Many presentations showed the use of Clamped Homogeneous Electric Field (CHEF) gels as a complement to whole genome assemblies in revealing the structural variation of fungal genomes. This classic technology, which was developed in the 80s, employs the use of Pulse Field Gel Electrophoresis (PFGE) technique to separate large, chromosome-size molecules of DNA. Through CHEF gels, researchers can visually compare karyotypes between isolates from different fungal populations or species and indicate the presence-absence of chromosomes as well as validate the occurrence of unique chromosomes. In the era of “omics” data, it is interesting to see that such older and specific techniques are still implemented and can bring valuable insights into fungal genome evolution.
A beneficial aspect for me was the participation at the Magnafest satellite meeting that occurred one day before the conference start. During Magnafest, researchers working with Magnaporthe oryzae (and closely related Magnaporthe species) can meet and discuss the latest findings on studying this prominent fungal grass pathogen. The meeting lasted a day and it was composed of short presentations from PhD students, postdocs and established researchers in the field. The talks included epigenome regulation, transcriptome analyses of the barley-M. oryzae pathosystem using protoplasts and fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS), and other interesting topics around effector biology and mini-chromosomes. For me, this meeting was truly relevant considering I just started a postdoc working on genome evolution in this fungal pathogen. It gave me a unique opportunity to connect and discuss with the wider Magnaporthe community and understand what is being done currently in the field.
Another highlight for me was to present part of my previous PhD work during the conference poster session. During my PhD, I worked with host adaptation of Zymoseptoria tritici using population and comparative genomics as well as functional genomics analyses. The worked I presented involved the functional characterisation of one effector gene localised in a selective sweep region of Z. tritici isolates infecting Aegilops spp., a wild grass closely related to wheat. The poster session was really valuable as I could receive feedbacks and discuss potential future directions of the work I performed with scientists from similar and different fields.
Overall, the 32nd Fungal Genetics Conference was a great opportunity for me to network, (re)connect with old and new collaborators and friends from different parts of the world, and discuss the latest findings of my research in a beautiful and memorable setting. I am very grateful to the BSPP for the opportunity to attend and I am confident this experience will be significant for my research and career.
Wagner C. Fagundes
Max Plank Institute for Biology, Tübingen
TOP IMAGE: The beautiful pacific ocean in Pacific Grove where the meeting was held.
