FGSC

About the FGSC

The Fungal Genetics Stock Center is a resource available to the Fungal Genetics research community and to educational and research organizations in general. The FGSC was funded largely by grants from the National Science Foundation of the United States of America and to a lesser extent by the payments made by researchers who use our services. In 2014 the FGSC moved to Kansas State University and receives support from the University.

The Fungal Genetics Stock Center was established in 1960 to preserve strains that were finding important use in genetics research. The concern was present in the Fungal Genetics research community that strains used in the 40's and 50's were in danger of being lost as the researchers who had generated them retired or moved on to other areas of inquiry. The FGSC was founded in 1960 at Dartmouth College. The first support was a three year grant of $32,300. Dr. Raymond Barratt was the first Director.

Since its days at Dartmouth, the FGSC has moved three times, first to California State University, Humboldt, then in 1985 to the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas, to the University of Missouri, Kansas City in 2004 and to Kansas State University in 2014. In 1960 there were approximately 400 strains at the FGSC. Now there are over 23,000 Neurospora strains, a growing number of Neurospora knock-outs, over 2,000 Aspergillus strains and various representatives of other fungi. Additionally, the FGSC has cloned genes, and gene libraries. In early 2001, we added strains of Magnaporthe grisea and molecular tools for working with them. In 2003 and 2004, we accepted nearly 50,000 Magnaporthe knock out mutants. In 2005 we began to distribute arrayed sets of knock-out mutants of Cryptococcus or Candida mutants. For more information, please see McCluskey K, Wiest A, Plamann M. 2010. The Fungal Genetics Stock Center: a repository for 50 years of fungal genetics research. J Biosci. 35(1):119-26.