2.3.4 ‘Originals’ versus ‘Duplicates’
Very early in the project, all isolates were assessed for their ability to grow on media other than that of their original isolation medium. The media tested included three of the maintenance media described above: 7H9, CZ and YEME. Based on their ability to grow, their preferences for certain media, as well as the cultural characteristics (presence of aerial mycelium and colour of the aerial and substrate mycelia) on these media and their original isolation media, it was determined that some of the isolates were most probably repeat isolates or clones. As a result, these isolates were assigned to the „Duplicate‟ isolate group, and were initially not characterised any further. The remaining isolates from the „Original‟ isolate group were deemed unique, and were used for all further work (see Appendix A for a list of all Original isolates and their respective Duplicates).