Jump to content
The Corroboree
TheMooseZeus

Mushroom culture confusion

Recommended Posts

Hey all!

Im getting into cultivating and am very confused about buying cultures.

 

For example these prices are ridiculous: $150

https://www.newgenerationmushroomsupplies.com.au/index.php?route=product/product&path=101_120&product_id=229

 

This in the middle: $40

https://forestfungi.com.au/collections/agar/products/white-oyster-petri-dish

 

Compared to this which is very cheap: $15

https://www.miltonmushrooms.com.au/store/p10/White_Oyster_culture_(Pleurotus_florida).html

 

Am i missing something? 

Where do you recommend i look for mushroom cultures in Aus?

- Cheers all 

Edited by TheMooseZeus
  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I run forest fungi. Making petris takes time and effort, and maintaining a culture bank can be tricky. I give students 50% off, and usually give multiple petris. I also only sell cultures that I have tested. Overseas some of these cultures are $400+. I regularly trade cultures. I have a bank of 20 plus cultures, but only grow a few species for myself and chefs. If someone wants a rarely used culture, I have to make a batch of petris, inoculate them, incubate them, and then choose the best ones to post. All my cultures I send are fresh, not frozen. I used to do it for free, as do others here (watertrade got me started), but I can't afford to be a charity, so I charge enough to make it worth my while. I also don't place restrictions on what you do with my cultures...others have bought my cultures, then started selling them with restrictions on what you can do with them, and renaming them as fictitious species...

 

  • Like 7

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
3 hours ago, worowa said:

I run forest fungi. Making petris takes time and effort, and maintaining a culture bank can be tricky. I give students 50% off, and usually give multiple petris. I also only sell cultures that I have tested. Overseas some of these cultures are $400+. I regularly trade cultures. I have a bank of 20 plus cultures, but only grow a few species for myself and chefs. If someone wants a rarely used culture, I have to make a batch of petris, inoculate them, incubate them, and then choose the best ones to post. All my cultures I send are fresh, not frozen. I used to do it for free, as do others here (watertrade got me started), but I can't afford to be a charity, so I charge enough to make it worth my while. I also don't place restrictions on what you do with my cultures...others have bought my cultures, then started selling them with restrictions on what you can do with them, and renaming them as fictitious species...

  

Thats awesome man! Congrats!

It'd good to get an insight in what goes on behind the scenes. That student discount is very enticing too ;)

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
On 22/11/2018 at 6:51 AM, worowa said:

others have bought my cultures, then started selling them with restrictions on what you can do with them, and renaming them as fictitious species...

 

Haha.  damn thats cheeky.

 

yeah, there is a bit going on like that, people use DNA and BLAST searches incorrectly, and selling species based on incorrect assumptions to increase their profile.

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I wonder if there would there be enough genetic variation in the culture after one reproductive cycle that you could claim it's a new strain, even in the face of sequencing.

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hmmm, I'd be interested to know this too...

A 'reproductive cycle' I assume Pseudo Mexican is meaning - Having one strain fruit and sporulate... Would the subsequent mycelium grown from those spores be vastly different (even to the point of unrecognizably related) strains.

It'd be great if If anyone knew and could roll off a few sentences describing how fungi create their genetic diversity...Seems like they manage a high degree of diversity with no sexual reproduction (mitosis/meiosis chromosome crossing) and too much to be accounted for solely by mutation. Are genetics mixed when different strains of same species are grown together? Is there much info in the way of fungi gene expression from environmental factors?

 

 

I did source this after a bit of googling...but wouldn't mind a seeing if anyone has a more succinct overview... Not that this one's that bad..

( https://mycotopia.net/topic/23539-genetics/ )

Essential Points of Mushroom Breeding

 

1.The genotypes of mushrooms are controlled by genes which are passed on unchanged from generation to generation.
2.Genes occur in pairs, one from each parent spore.
3.When the members of a gene pair differ in their effect upon phenotype, the mushroom is termed hybrid or heterozygous.
4.When the members of a pair of genes are equal in their effect upon phenotype, then they are termed truebreeding or homozygous.
5.Pairs of genes controlling different phenotypic traits are (usually) inherited independently.
6.Dominance relations and gene interaction can alter the phenotypic ratios of the F1, F2, and subsequent generations.

 

 

 

Soooo...I'd say yes, it'd be a new strain, but a lot of overlapping genetics..But Idk for sure.

 


When working with agar cultures and you have an isolate - What's the underlying difference between the mycel growth there? All same genetics but some grows fuzzy, some rhizomorphic etc..all form the same exact genetics? What are you isolating exactly then when you do extract a bit of rhizo growth and grow that out..Is that just a gene expression...somehow triggered?...begging the question, how?

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
On 02/12/2018 at 3:23 PM, obtuse said:

define reproductive cycle

 

By reproductive cycle I meant one episode of sexual reproduction / sporulation as qwertyuiop said.

 

I was curious whether / to what extent the desirable phenotypic traits of a mushroom are preserved despite introducing genetic variation by sexual reproduction. One application could be a way around the culture licenses (if you were so inclined).

 

This piece of info makes it seem unlikely to me:

 

On 03/12/2018 at 10:27 AM, qwertyuiop said:

6.Dominance relations and gene interaction can alter the phenotypic ratios of the F1, F2, and subsequent generations.

 

I mentioned sequencing / genetic variation because if a supplier thought you had pirated their culture or breached license and wanted to hold you accountable, sequencing techniques are the only way I know of to determine this (if there are others, I would love to learn). If the sequences are different enough, it would be difficult to prove.

 

On an aside, Aussi Mushroom's license restricts what you can do with "any spawn or cultures subsequently derived therefrom".

 
Edited by Pseudo Mexican
clarity
  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

 To the question is sequencing techniques the only way to determine a genetic difference.

My thoughts are if you put the 2 cultures in question, on agar and they were the same.

then they would grow together seamlessly. and if they were different there

would be a division of some sort.   just like a multi spore inoculation on agar, sectors can

be seen. 

  • Like 4

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×