The 5th edition of the 4EU+ Summer School “From Fungal Morphology to Genotype” took place in Skryje, Czechia, from 1 to 7 September 2024. This year, 31 students and 5 teachers from Belgium, Czechia, Germany, Greece, and Poland participated in the course.
Throughout the week, students joined several field excursions, recording 186 fungal observations and collecting 141 specimens. These efforts increased the number of fungal records from the Skryje region in the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) from 64 to over 350.
Specimens collected during the field trips were identified using microscopic observations and DNA barcoding, employing both Sanger and Nanopore sequencing approaches. The mobile molecular lab performed more efficiently than ever, achieving a DNA extraction success rate of around 90%. For the first time, nanopore sequencing was successfully completed 100% in the field.
In addition to these achievements, students learned to draw microscopic structures, perform phylogenetic analyses, document fungal records, and manage mycological data using the PlutoF platform. All results were presented in the form of posters on Friday afternoon, marking the end of a productive week.
The participants enjoyed a great week of mycology, and the team hopes to meet again during the next edition of this fungal summer school.
You can view the detailed results and findings of the fungal observations and DNA sequencing analyses conducted during the summer school here.