[Mycology] mushroom mycelia

[ohare from frontier.net]

Dear Dr. Rush Wayne,
                     I've been off-and-on over the years with  
mushrooms. A few interesting things came to attention over the years.  
One was the way Dr. Brooks Church at the U.of Denver grew mushroom  
mycelia on blotters. The blotters soaked up the nutrient and the  
mycelia formed a thick mat on the blotter  -- which could then be  
sliced off the blotter and eated like a steak. Another interesting  
thing was found in the "Plantation Owners Library" in Hawaii. It  
concerned "teaching" mushrooms to use methanol (not ethanol) as their  
carbon and energy source. The technique did not seem to involve  
genetic information transfer  --  but just a gradual removal of sugar  
with a simultaneous increase in methanol as a nutrient. Do you know if  
yeast or mushrooms generally can be taught to adapt to alternative  
nutrients? Or is it possible to get them to change their carbon and  
energy sources by using something like a plasmid transfer ?
                     Grateful if you have any time for a brief  
comment. Side note:  I've had some morel mushrooms ( Morchella  
Aesculentis)found along a river bed here in Colorado. If they could be  
grown on blotters and eaten like a steak, it would bea significant  
culinary achievement.<g>    Louis O'Hare