South African scientists want your fungi

A South African amateur astronomer won galactic acclaim recently when a distant celestial storm was named after him in recognition of his contribution to astronomy.

Measuring almost 4,800km in width, “Clyde’s Spot”, named after Pretoria-based home astronomer Clyde Foster, is one of several convective storms (plumes of clouds) that occasionally erupt above Jupiter, about 588 million kilometres from Earth.

But much closer to home, fellow South Africans now have the chance to pursue more Earthly fame by getting some equally remarkable natural phenomena named after them, albeit on a much smaller scale.  

We are talking about some of the microscopic nunus that thrive in dark, damp or mouldy spaces, namely the rich variety of South African fungi that can grow at the bottom of unwashed office tea cups or which lurk on old leather belts, sandals and shoes at the back of unaired cupboards.

Prof Cobus Visagie and Dr Neriman Yilmaz, both mycologists at the University of Pretoria’s Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI), believe a wide variety of fungi and moulds will have proliferated in offices and warehouses across the country during lockdown — and that as more people start returning to work, this is the perfect time to harvest and analyse samples, which could include some new and as yet unnamed species.

Visagie and Yilmaz have now launched the FABI Fun Project, to take a closer look at the fungal diversity found in and around their institute and have invited the public, locally and abroad, to participate.

“The public is welcome to send pictures or mouldy items to us,” said Visagie. “We will preserve the strains in our fungal collection and then identify them to species level. If we find new species, we will describe them and name them after the person who sent the material to us.”

The FABI researchers gave the example of a leatherwear and accessory store in Malaysia that reopened its doors after two months of lockdown, only to find fungi growing on all their products.

“This is an extreme case, but if we look carefully in our own offices, we might find fungi in the most unexpected places,” said Visagie.

“Usually, when we occupy offices, there is enough airflow with open doors and air conditioners creating conditions that generally prevent fungal growth. Other common places to find fungi will be on uncleaned coffee or tea cups.”

Most fungi are not dangerous and we breathe in commonly occurring fungal spores with almost every breath, though certain species (such as Aspergillus fumigatus) might become problematic, especially in immune-compromised individuals, when spores are inhaled in large quantities.

Though fungi often get a bad rap or are considered icky, Visagie says humans have also exploited fungi to great benefit, including food production.

Examples include mushrooms, beer (yeast), Camembert and blue cheeses, cured sausages (salami), Quorn mince (a meat substitute) or soy sauce. In the case of chocolate, fungi are used to ferment cacao beans to make them sweeter and more palatable to people.

More details on how to participate in the project are available from Cobus.Visagie@up.ac.za and neriman.yilmazvisagie@fabi.up.ac.za