The Government is investigating a potential outbreak of genetically modified fungus at Lincoln University. Two secured laboratories and a greenhouse have been locked down as the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) checks the biological scare. Lincoln University researchers informed MPI and the Environmental Protection Agency on March 7 that it had evidence to suggest a fungus (Beauveria bassiana) supplied for research was potentially a strain modified genetically to include a marker so it could be traced in plants. The fungus had been believed to have been a “wild strain” that is already present in the environment and so was being researched outside approved genetically modified containment facilities.