The FABI fungal culture collection (CMW) containing more than 17 000 cultures from mainly forests around the world. Francois van der Walt (MSc student) collecting samples from a camel thorn tree in the Northern Cape. Pranitha Dawlal (MSc student) conducting resistance trials on maize cultivars against mycotoxigenic fungi. Sniffing panel screening fungi for pyrazine production.

The African continent, including South Africa, has a rich diversity of climatic environments ranging from deserts to tropical forests. Unique microorganisms are continuously being found that are up to now, mainly unexploited and their full potential not fully realised. This opens up a tremendous opportunity for South Africa and the African continent to utilise its microbial resources for industrial exploitation and economic growth.

SERA's Centre for Applied Mycological Studies (CAMS) aims to do exactly this. CAMS is located at the University of Pretoria's (UP) Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI) - one of six NRF-appointed National Centres of Excellence. Established in 2004 to build capacity in the study of fungi (mycology) in various fields, CAMS is currently conducting work in various areas of mycology, including mycotoxicology (the study of fungal toxins), food mycology, industrial mycology and biotechnology.

According to Dr Gert Marais - Project Team leader for CAMS - the past two years have seen significant achievements in the Centre's various projects. Among these is the screening of 49 different commercially available cultivars of maize for their ability to withstand infestation by mycotoxigenic fungi. This particular project comes to the end of its three year duration at the end of 2006, and has already yielded a number of interesting results.

Other CAMS projects include a Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO)/ Department of Health funded study into the presence of various mycotoxins in South African food commodities identified at the Codex Alimentarius Forum as being of international importance, and a survey conducted in the Northern Cape of naturally occurring trees and the fungi that occur on them. The latter began in 2005 and has resulted in the isolation of more than 900 different fungi.

Of the fungi isolated in the Northern Cape project, up to one third are as yet still unidentified. "This is an indication that many microorganisms in South Africa have yet to be discovered", says Dr Marais. This fact is of great concern to CAMS because in order to be able to exploit our fungal resources for the development of new and novel products, there needs to be an easily accessible national fungal resource centre of specimens that contain viable organisms in their original state.

As Dr Marais explains, there is only one national fungal collection in South Africa - located at the ARC's (Agricultural Research Centre) Plant Protection Research Institute (PPRI) - and even this is just used mostly as a reference collection, which means that the cultures there are not necessarily in a viable state. The combined fungal collections of the CSIR and UP, however, house about 25 000 different fungi - making it the largest collection in Africa. The ideal would be to combine this and other 'private' fungal culture collections across the country.

Another concern among mycologists in general is that basic mycology in South Africa is becoming an extinct discipline. Young scientists are leaving the country for better opportunities in other parts of the world and, according to a 2004 Department of Science and Technology report, it is estimated that 50% of South African scientists are over 50 years old. The ratio for mycologists is most likely higher.

In light of these facts it is foreseeable that a number of mycological research groups could dissolve as a result of the scientists leading them reaching retirement age. "The possibility exists that a significant amount of fungal cultures could be lost, resulting in the loss of our country's biodiversity", says Dr Marais. In an effort to overcome some of these challenges, CAMS has already initiated dialogues with various role-players on how to ensure the survival of the CSIR/UP collections and wishes to establish a national forum for such discussions on a wider scale.

Despite the challenges, CAMS has completed a successful project involving the development of a blue-cheese flavour derived from a fungus, isolated from the Northern Cape, which is now entering the commercialisation phase for export purposes. The Centre also currently has an MSc student who is screening the CSIR/UP culture collections for pyrazine-producing fungi. Pyrazines are the compounds that include a number of flavours like coffee, caramel, savoury, nutty and green flavours.

For more information on CAMS, contact Dr Gert Marais at +27 12 420 5817.