Mycelium Bank

I read about strain banks in a book by Paul Stamets. Is there any communal strain bank, like the ATCC but for mushrooms?

I don't know but it's a great idea. I know Paul Stamets has talked about having like a catalog of glass slide spore prints, which would be similar.
John S
PDX OR

I share spore prints that have been deposited on paper... Then I cut up the paper and put it into a ziplock bag. Last time I even got clever, and printed the label with planting instructions onto one side of the paper and deposited the spore prints onto the other side.

What about also having a culture bank? I've heard that it used to be that each valley had its own unique strain of sourdough, beer yeast, cultured dairy, etc. But monoculture strains have wiped them all out. Just think, a strain of bacteria cherished for 500 years, shaped by the practices of the baker, the quality of the soil, the local varieties of wheat, the environment of the bakery. We could become this "cultured," this civilized, again.

Not to get off topic, I love your idea. Every locality could provide a slightly different strain of the different species of fungi; if there are 10,00 varieties of tomato, why not of oyster mushroom. And what of nitrogen fixing inoculants? Surly they ought to be shaped by their environment, instead of bought from distant company.