Using museum specimens to understand mushroom population genomics.

Using museum specimens to understand mushroom population genomics.

Museum collections and other repositories contain a vast amount of specimens associated with metadata detailing the location, habitat and ecological observations of the specimen at the moment of collection. Since these specimens are biological tissues, DNA sequencing techniques can be used to study them. However, their application to fungi is still very limited. One of such applications is population genomics, a field where fungal study is also severely lagging behind that of plants and animals. The combination of sequences from museum specimens and fresh material will allow us to study populations of two mushroom-forming fungi, Trichaptum abietinum and Phelopillus nigrolimitatus. T. abietinum is an abundant species that is emerging as a model for population studies, with abundant information in Scandinavia. Museum samples will allow us to detect potential changes in selective forces that have affected Norwegian populations, mainly associated with landscape changes over the XXth century. P. nigrolimitatus is a Scandinavian Nearly Threatened species whose populations have been dwindling in association to land use changes. Museum samples will allow us to compare past and current genetic diversity of Norwegian populations, which will help inform conservation efforts. The project will generate SNP chips, which will help future population and conservation studies by providing a reliable and cost-efficient analytical tool. MUSHEUM will combine population genomic data with specimen metadata and ecological information to study selective pressures in the two species. Finally, MUSHEUM will make use of the combined genome skimming data generated for the design of SNP probes to generate de novo genome assemblies of the two species. This advances will allow to repurpose data from population studies for the generation of reference assemblies.