A popular article on National Mycology Conference in Goa

National Mycology Conference in Goa
by
Dr. Nandkumar M. Kamat
(Published in- ' Panorama', Sunday edition of 'The Navhind Times' Panaji, Goa, October 25, 2009, http://www.navhindtimes.in)

Mykos is the Greek word for fungi. Fungi are eukaryotes placed in fifth kingdom of life. Having evolved 1800 million years ago , these filamentous forms are more primitive than plants. Common people understand fungi when they watch or discuss mushrooms . However mushrooms are-conspicuous macrofungi-a part of the larger fungal kingdom which is estimated to have upto 2 million different species in the world. Today mycology or science of studying fungi, recognizes only about 100 thousand different species, or just about five percent and the rest are yet to be explored and identified. Fungi are virtual chemical factories and therefore biotechnologists are paying sustained attention to explore their chemical creativity. Fungal biodiversity and bioprospecting is a rapidly expanding area of biology with handsome economic and ecological spin offs. Commercial products based on fungi such as drugs, antibiotics, enzymes etc. create a turnover of $ 500 billions annually. The global turnover of edible fungi which comprise popular species like button mushrooms, shitake, oyster and paddy straw mushrooms has reached 50 billions dollars. The pharmaceutical industry produces several drugs and antibiotics from fungi. Leavened bread , all types of wines and the beer industry employs unicellular fungi such as yeasts in fermentation . Hundreds of oriental food products from rice, soyabean, black grams are prepared using non toxic native fungal strains. Fungi perform powerful ecosystems services in nature as necrotrophs, saprotrophs and biotrophs. This property has been used in organic farming and bioremediation of contaminated soils and polluted waters. Not all fungi are friendly to humans. There are hundreds of species which create diseases in plants, humans and insects. Medical mycology is a challenging area of research . Scientists are trying to discover less toxic and more powerful antifungal compounds. Most of the ‘cutting edge’ mycological research takes place in Indian universities. Owing to its’ immense economic, ecological and industrial importance the days of treating modern mycology as just another part of Botany and plant pathology are gone. Industries find more wealth in useful fungi today. Advanced research in fungal enzymes, fungal glycobiology, secondary metabolites, fungal molecular genetics, developmental biology, fungal genomics and fungal proteome has yielded a wealth of new and exciting data. The common bakers’ yeast is now considered a model to study growth of solid tumours. Hundreds of genes in yeast and humans are found to be common. This helps in testing new drugs. It is an exciting age for new mycology. Therefore the forthcoming national conference of mycology in Goa would provide an interactive platform to all stakeholders. After almost 12 years Goa University is hosting a major National Mycological Conference on 29th and 30th October. It would be 36th Annual Meeting of Mycological Society of India. The Botany Department of Goa University headed by reputed plant physiologist Prof. Prabhat Kumar Sharma is fully geared to host this prestigious event. Mycorrhizha expert Prof. Bernard F. Rodrigues, as organizing secretary under the guidance of eminent mycologist Prof. D.J. Bhat is not leaving any stone unturned to ensure grand success of the event. More than 100 research papers would be presented and discussed. The theme of the two days seminar would be fungal biodiversity and bioprospecting in the age of global warming and climate change. As compared to role of bacteria , plants and animals, fungi have not been properly accounted in the present models of global warming and climate change. Mycologists would be interested in assessing the impact of global warming and climate change on fungal biodiversity, ecology and biology. There would be four scientific sessions at Goa University which will discuss all the aspects of modern mycology through oral and poster presentations. India’s well known mycologists would deliver special lectures in the areas of their expertise which will range from fungal diversity to nanobiotechnology. The organizers have planned a special session with local farmers and agriculturists in collaboration with Agriculture Department .This interactive session would see four top plant pathologists answering questions from farmers. Goa has a rich tradition of ethnomycology-the use of fungi by local people who have knowledge of 100 species of edible and medicinal mushrooms. The Portuguese introduced leavened bread made by using crude yeast culture. Agricultural and medical Mycology flourished in Goa after foundation of Goa Medical and Pharmacy colleges in the 19th century. However it really got a boost only after establishment of NIO and Goa University. Today the Botany Department of Goa University is recognized all over India and the world as an excellent centre for studying fungi from tropical habitats-such as western ghats. Similarly NIO has also carved a global niche in marine mycology. So far, attempts made by both NIO and Goa University have resulted in documentation of more than 1000 species of fungi from diverse habitats of Goa . However hundreds of smaller habitats have not been explored. The actual number of all types of fungi from Goa may exceed 5000 species. My own work during past 23 years at Goa University has resulted in identification of 500 species of mushrooms and 50 species of yeasts. We have achieved success in Cataloguing fungal diversity, discovering new species, preserving thousands of unique cultures, in mycorrhizal research, edible mushroom cultivation and fruit wine production. The mycology conference would be grand opportunity to boost more advanced mycological research in Goa. This would immensely benefit local agriculture, industries and health sector. Companies such as UNICHEM have already established their biosciences division in Goa. CMMs have been producing excellent mycobiofertilizers from their plant at Sarvona, Bicholim. In future there would be food processing, fermentation based and biotech industries in Goa promoting products and processes based on fungi. The national conference would be inaugurated by Speaker of Goa Legislative Assembly Shri Pratapsing Rane in the presence of Goa University’s VC Prof. Deobagkar on October 29 th. The valedictory function would have Goa’s well known bio entrepreneur Dr Sangam Kurade and Goa’s Director of Industries Mr Sanjeet Rodrigues as Guests of Honour. Guaranteed to be an intellectual feast for students and research scholars of mycology-the conference is an important event to boost Goa’s efforts to emerge at national level as high quality mycology education, research and training hub –a foundation necessary to promote fungal bioindustries in Goa.