Metagenomic testing of a historic fungal mycelial mat

Shotgun sequencing was conducted on a historic Tlingit wall pocket, a work of art used as a receptacle for household items and designed to hang on the wall. The wall pocket was made in 1903 at Ketchikan, Alaska. Microscopy indicates the wall pocket was crafted from a fungal mycelial mat, likely produced by Fomitopsis officinalis (Laricifomes officinalis). DNA sequencing was conducted on the wall pocket, a lysis buffer used in cleaning the specimen (referred to as predigestion), and an extraction control (blank). Neither shotgun sequencing nor internal transcribed spacer (ITS) testing led to a taxonomic identification of the wall pocket. According to requirements of the project, all sequencing reads which map to the human reference genome have been removed.