"Each chapter is extremely well documented, and many include excellent photographs. This compendium is a valuable source of current information on a wide range of mycological research topics applicable for professionals in numerous fields. ... The volume is imperative because many works about fungi typically do not focus on microfungi. The title should be available in college and university libraries that support teaching and research in the biological sciences. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals and practitioners." (K. M. Foos, Choice, Vol. 54 (2), October, 2016) "The whole is well-edited and presented, and it was pleasing to see coloured illustrations in the chapters ... . All major mycological libraries will benefit from a copy ... ." (IMA Fungus, Vol. 7 (1), June, 2016)
Table of Contents
Preface
1. Introduction –advances and predicament
2. Recent changes in fungal nomenclature and their impact on naming of microfungi
3. Future perspectives and challenges of fungal systematics in the age of big data.
4. Molecular techniques in mycological studies and sequence data curating: quality control and challenges
5. Challenges and future perspectives in the systematics of Kickxellomycotina, Mortierellomycotina, Mucoromycotina, and Zoopagomycotina
6. Entomophthoromycota: a new overview of some of the oldest terrestrial fungi
7. Latest developments in the research of rust fungi and their allies (Pucciniomycotina)
8. Conidiogenesis: its evolutionary aspects in the context of a philosophy of opportunity (lectics)
9. Fungal diversity of Central and South America
10. Mesofungi
11. Evolution of fungi and update on ethnomycology
12. Phylogenetic diversity of fungi in the sea including the Opisthosporidia
13. Biology and ecology of freshwater fungi
14. Dispersal strategies of microfungi
15. Microfungi in indoor environments: what is known and what is not?
16. Biology of the whiskey fungus
17. Allergenic microfungi and human health: a review on exposure, sensitization, and sequencing allergenic proteins
18. What’s old is new: Recognition of new fungal pathogens in the era of phylogenetics and changing taxonomy and implications for medical mycology
19. Mycotoxins in food and feed: a challenge for the 21st century
20. Inhalation exposure and toxic effects of mycotoxins
21. Fungi in fermentation and biotransformation systems
22. Microfungi in biofuel and bioenergy research
23. Interactions of microfungi and plant parasitic nematodes
24. Pathogenic microfungi associated with Spartina in salt marshes
Index
.
De-Wei Li, Ph.D.
Research Mycologist
The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station Valley Laboratory
Windsor, CT
USA
Dr. Li is a leading scholar in microbiology related to fungi and a is lecturer at Yale University.
This book principally covers the latest development of research on microfungi from both systematic and practical aspects. Microfungi are in our daily life, but we normally do not realize their presence. Without microfungi we would not be able to enjoy our baked food, fermented food, preserved food, alcoholic beverages, and access to some modern medication, such as penicillin and cyclosporine, which are secondary metabolites of microfungi. Recent advances in mycology presented in this book will be useful to identify the needs in mycological research and to determine the direction or niches for future research.