Subject: Soil Fungi/actinomycetes

From: [email-masked]
Date: 16 AUG 96 16:23:02 GMT

Dear all,
        I am a microbiologist by training but I don't have a lot of experience
with fungi/actinomycetes.  Recently in my research (for a Ph.D in biocontrol)
I have come across a lot of fungi and what I think are actinomycetes.

        The only book in our library for help in identification is dated 1947!
I wonder if anybody could recommend a more up to date book in this area?

        Also I would appreciate any hints or tips more experienced workers wouldhave for me.

        Thanks in advance

        Susan :->

*******************************************************************************
Susan Rafferty,
Plant Biotech.,
UCC, Ireland.

E-Mail : [email-masked]
Fax    : 00-353-21-274420

*******************************************************************************

---

From: [email-masked] (Lester Pasarell)
Date: 23 Aug 1996 06:29:34 -0700

>        Also I would appreciate any hints or tips more experienced workers
wouldhave for me.
Greetings!

Historically aerobic actinomycetes such as Nocardia spp., Streptomyces spp.,
Actinomadura spp. and many others are worked/identified in the mycology
laboratory because of their filaments, "spores" and slow growth
......but they are not fungi but prokariotic filamentous bacteria
many of the clinically significant ones can be identified by using
common laboratory techniques such as biochemicals, enzyme production, stain
characteristics  and colony morphology.....but the bulk of them can only be
identified with more sophisticated test such as GLC/HPLC ect

There are many books that could help you in your quest...a good start
...and sorry for this references since they are medically oriented..but
they should be able to give you a good start:

Clinical Microbiology Procedures Handbook by the American Society
for Microbiology, Washington, DC, 1993.

Manual of Clinical Microbiology, A Balows, WJ
Hausler, KL Herrmann, HD Isenberg, HJ Shadomy, (eds.) Washington,
DC, American Society for Microbiology, Fifth Edition, 1991.

I do not have the ISBN numbers for them in front of me right now...but I
could get them for you.

Good luck

Lester

Lester Pasarell-Luiggi                        
Medical Mycology Reference Laboratory 
Department of Pathology                           
University of Texas Medical Branch            
Galveston, Tx 77555-0609                      
http://fungus.utmb.edu/myco.htm                                       
[email-masked]