Sample ID: 55
Possible ID: Trichoderma sp.
Classification:
Phylum Ascomycota
Class Sordariomycetes
Order Hypocreales
Family Hypcreaceae
Isolation and culturing method:
Isolated from a soil sample collected from the South Campus Quad, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA. Sample was serially diluted in water and plated on malt extract agar + chloramphenicol. Plate was left alone for a week and then a small volume of hyphae was excised from the agar and transferred to achieve a pure culture.
Culture appearance and growth:
Dark and scaly underneath and to the side with a central ring of lighter, fuzzy hyphae. Patchy growth observed initially, but hyphae were then growing quickly above agar and measuring 4 um wide.
Spore production:
Spores growing above agar. Conidia present at the end of hyphal tips. Circular spores measuring 2.5 um in diameter.
Update: DNA sequencing suggests that the sample is Trichoderma tomentosum with 94% identity and 100% query cover. A picture from google images of a Trichoderma tomentosum species is below. Note that the reaction did not really work for this sample and the query length was only 78 bases as opposed to the expected 500+ bases. This could be due to contamination from the transfers of the sample, or due to a pipetting error with too little DNA.
