Spore syringes, UK dispatched, from a catalogued library

A spore syringe is a sterile suspension of mushroom spores in water, drawn into a luer-lock syringe so a measured drop can be transferred to a slide. For microscopy it is simply the most practical way to store and handle a spore sample: the spores stay hydrated, the suspension stays contained, and a single syringe supplies many slides.

MycoWorld prepares every spore syringe in a still-air, laminar-flow environment using sterile water, and gives each batch a LOT reference that traces back to the source genetic. That means the label on the barrel and the record on the bench say the same thing, which is the whole point of keeping a library rather than a catalogue.

How these are prepared

Spores are collected from a documented parent, suspended in sterile water and filled under laminar flow. Each syringe is 10ml unless the listing says otherwise, and ships with a sterile needle and an alcohol wipe.

Every batch carries a LOT number. If you come back in a year and ask what was in a particular syringe, we can tell you which isolate it came from and when it was drawn. Very little of this market can do that.

Isolates and multispore

Where a listing is marked ISO, the line has been taken down to a single stable phenotype rather than left as a multispore mix. Under the scope that means far less variation between spores on the slide, which is what you want if you are measuring rather than browsing.

Multispore syringes keep the full genetic spread of the parent print. Both are useful for different work, and the difference is explained in full in our guide to isolated spore syringes.