How do I find things that are not in the FGSC collection ?
How do I order from the FGSC ?
What to I need to know before I ship biological materials ?
Does the FGSC keep client information confidential?
What can I do to support 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 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.
While some fungi can cause disease in humans, most people have innate immunity against fungi. Some people with diseases of the immune system are at increased risk of infection by fungi. Drugs have been developed in the last 5 years that help with this.
The FGSC has been the subject of numerous newspaper and magazine articles.
Most fungal strains in the FGSC collection are
listed in the online
searches.
Some people may prefer to browse the
FGSC catalog online.
Molecular materials are listed both in the catalog and online.
Specific groups of materials are listed by category:
Neurospora
Aspergillus
Fusarium and Magnaporthe
Ustilago
Cryptococcus
Other Fungi
Clones and gene libraries
Strains from sequencing programs
Some resources at the FGSC are held in a 'deposit-storage-distribute' manner. They include the following:
The Tatum lyophil
collection
The Perkins Wild type and Silica gel collections
The Perkins Ustilago collection
The Emerson Allomyces
collection
Neurospora stocks from Fred deSerres, Ann Lacy, Mary Case, John Fincham, Rowland
Davis
Aspergillus nidulans temperature sensitive mutant set from Steve Harris.
If you are interested in these materials, please
contact the FGSC.
In addition to biological materials, the FGSC has some additional resources including genomic DNA, race tubes, Vogels salts and more.
We do not have edible fungi. Find those at www.fungi.com (though no endorsement is implied). We will not provide fungi for human consumption, or to individuals without a valid institutional affiliation.
We do not have clinical fungi. Those can be found at the ATCC or other collections.
The only way to order from the FGSC is to use the online order form.
The FGSC requires pre-payment .
Fees are described online. These supersede any other fee lists.
If you need a pro-forma invoice, please
contact the FGSC.
We accept payment by check or by online credit card.
While the FGSC considers all material in the collection to be in the held in trust for the public,
we cannot release rights outside our authority. Users are encouraged to seek
legal advice prior to commercialization of materials from the collection. Our Material Transfer Agreement
asks that you accept the following statements:
Some FGSC policies including strain availability and strain deposit are described here. In addition to the policy descriptions, this document contains information about strain descriptions and symbols used in describing the genetic backgrounds of strains.
Depositing materials at the FGSC
We solicit deposit of genetically characterized fungal strains, strains subject to whole genome sequencing, and engineered strains for general use. Also we solicit molecular vectors for transformation, gene expression, protein tagging, and other molecular tools. Our primary emphasis is model filamentous fungi and our collection does not include taxonomic type strains or cultures. A deposit sheet can be downloaded from the FGSC web site. If you have a large number of strains to deposit, a database may replace these forms. Please contact the FGSC before sending any plant or human pathogens, or large collections of materials. The FGSC has a limited policy on restriction of strain distribution.
The FGSC is not an "international depositary authority" under the
Budapest Treaty
(Part 2, d(a)) and as such cannot offer the protections that an IDA offers.
The IDAs for the United States of America are the American Type Culture Collection
and the USDA (NRRL) Culture Collection.
Please read the WFCC statement on shipping biological materials
In general, you may ship strains of non-pathogenic fungi including Neurospora and its relatives, Aspergillus nidulans, A. niger, Rhizopus, Coprinus, Pichia, Saccharomyces or other BSL-1 organism without special permits. Private couriers are preferred over the postal service. Any BSL-2 organism needs to be shipped in protective packaging including a double-walled container that will prevent the escape of the organism if the culture should become breached. They need to be marked "UN3373 Biological Substance Category B" to indicate that they are biologicals but not hazardous materials. Please see the CDC guidelines for more information.
The FGSC was supported from 1960 to 2014 by the Living Stock Collection program (now CSBR), at the National Science Foundation. Additional support comes from the fees we charge to our users. Individuals considering the deposit of large sets of strains should contact the FGSC and be prepared to provide support for accession of the materials. Please include this support in your grant proposals.
In 2006, the FGSC established the FGSC Endowment fund at the Genetics Society of America.
Dr. J. Leslie is the director of the FGSC and Professor in the Department of Plant Pathology. Amy Beyer and Bruce Ramundo are staff in Dr. Leslie's lab.
Does the FGSC maintain client confidentiality?
The FGSC does not share client information. Any information used in reporting on FGSC activities is made anonymously. This includes information used in publications and in reporting to or applying for support from granting agencies. Information we may share includes the destination country and mechanism of funding for recipients of materials from the FGSC.
What can I do to support the FGSC?
The FGSC relies on its user community to deposit materials that are useful. While we do charge fees for the materials we distribute, the most meaningful statistics that demonstrate our usefulness are the numbers of orders we receive and the numbers of citations they generate. Please deposit materials for which you receive requests from colleagues or if you are moving on to a new research area.
We keep track of articles that cite the FGSC. If you wish to cite the FGSC in publication, please refer to the following guidelines.
Although information at the FGSC web site may mention specific vendors or their products, this is for identification purposes only and does not imply that the FGSC or the NSF endorses any particular product or vendor.
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