Flavodon flavus growing in the lab .
Image Credit: Galya Kayam

Hyphae of Flavodon flavus.
Image Credit: Galya Kayam

Flavodon flavus (Klotzsch) Ryvarden (obligate synonyms: Hirschioporus flavus (Klotzsch) Teng  and Xylodon flavus (Klotzsch) Kuntze) is a white rot fungus with lignin degrading capabilities and a secretor of exopolysaccharides. Recently, F. flavus has been isolated from the marine environment, as a symbiont from the reef building coral Orbicella faveolata (listed as "endangered" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature). Information on this (and additional O. faveolata-associated fungi) will serve as a basis for studying the mostly uncharted aspects (beneficial and detrimental) of fungal-coral interactions. Sequence information will be mined for secondary metabolite production potential, compared with additional strains isolated from other coral samples and used for designing probes for in-situ analysis of coral-fungus interactions.