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Title: Dangerous Fungal Spores May Travel the Globe On 'Stratospheric
Superhighway'

Link: https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/05/07/1...

sciencehabit shares a repot from Science.org: Scientists have captured fungal
spores cruising in the inhospitable environment of the stratosphere, much
higher than commercial aircraft fly. When brought back to the lab, the
researchers found that some of the spores -- including pathogens of plants
and people -- had survived intercontinental trips and could be cultured in
the lab. Although spores and microbes have been detected in the stratosphere
before, the new results come from a cheap, homespun sampling device dangled
from weather balloons, the project could help researchers figure out what
traits and conditions allow spores to survive a swing through the
stratosphere and how they get up there in the first place. The work could
also be a first step towards an atmospheric monitoring system that could nip
emerging fungal pathogens in the bud, the study's authors reported at a
conference of the European Geophysical Union. After five preliminary flights,
the team has already learned a lot. Based on DNA sequencing analysis, they
identified spores from 235 genera, including fungi that infect blackberries
and carrots in the United States and Japan, and one species, Naganishia
albida, that can make immunocompromised people sick. In the lab, they were
able to revive and culture spores from 15 different fungal species, among
them several plant pathogens. Mostly, the results show that their sampler
works. Now, the researchers want to set up regular flights to track airborne
fungal biodiversity and seasonal variations. They also want to identify how
events such as wildfires or volcanic eruptions inject spores into the
stratosphere.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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