Question: How do you change the dna of fungi

Hannah Blyth answered on 19 Mar 2020:

Hello Cornishbasty! I work with a fungus called Zymoseptoria tritici (or as I call it for short: Zymo).

In some of my experiments, I used UV light to cause changes to Zymo’s DNA – these changes are random! In others where I am trying to target a specific gene or introduce a specific sequence of DNA into Zymo I use a special bacterium to help me. Agrobacterium tumefaciens is a soil bacterium that causes a plant disease by introducing its so-called T-DNA into root cells! Scientists have found ways to be able to trick the bacterium into thinking it is infecting a plant when in actual fact it is transferring some DNA to Zymo!