Chapter 7 : Feminism, Fungi, and Fungal Genetics

Abstract:

The author worked in the Plant Breeding Department at Cornell University, and his project involved a forage crop called bird's foot trefoil. There was work in the field scoring plants for desirable agronomic characters, and there was work in the laboratory examining chromosomes for possible cytogenetic aberrations. Beadle and Tatum had done their groundbreaking research using the red bread mold Neurospora crassa. The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is not only the best-known model system for fungal life, it is also one of the best-understood model organisms for eukaryotic life. The Southern Regional Research Laboratory conducted targeted research on economically important agricultural problems. Aflatoxins are carcinogenic metabolites produced by several filamentous fungi in the genus Aspergillus. Aflatoxin contamination of food crops is an international health hazard. The fungi that make aflatoxin lack sexual phases (mycologists call them "imperfect"), and in the days of pre-recombinant DNA, it was almost impossible to conduct genetic studies on imperfect fungi. Scientists at MIT had just initiated research on the biosynthesis of aflatoxin and showed that the chemical skeleton came from acetate units. More recently, with the help of Brendlyn Faison, a group at Tulane branched out to apply fungal degradative metabolism to environmental problems, characterizing new species for bioremediation. The author's ardor for microbiology, feminism, and fungi is not appropriate for everyone, but it illustrates how in science, an ordinary but focused person can lead an extraordinary life.