Genomic and metagenomic characterisation of wood-rotting fungi

Taxonomy is a universal nomenclature and curated classification of organisms, which is vital in many biological aspects such as agriculture, conservation and biosecurity. However, fungal taxonomy is not robust and well-characterised, especially for the wood-rotting fungi, due to database limitations and challenging morphological characterisation. This study discusses the advantages and challenges of utilising an integrative strategy, which comprises both genomic and metagenomic methods, to increase characterisation accuracy without the requirement of morphological identification proficiency. Thus, a total of 7 wood-rotting fungi were collected from Bukit Timah Nature Reserve and their DNA were extracted. Whole genome shotgun sequencing and bioinformatic tools such as BLASTn, RapSearch2, MEGAN and antiSMASH were used to characterise the wood-rotting fungi. Despite fungal database limitations, this method was able to classify 6 out of 7 samples as Polyporaceae and the other as Hymenochaetaceae and highlighted 3 distinct metagenomic profiles at the genus and species levels, which can be a tedious and challenging task with just morphological identification or a taxonomic classification method. In all, this paper will provide an alternative, integrative and yet highly reproducible approach in characterising wood-rotting fungi with ease and accuracy using genomic and metagenomic methods.Bachelor of Science in Biological Science