The Fungi

The Fungi

Fight Fungi with Fungi: Antifungal Properties of the Amphibian Mycobiome

Emerging infectious diseases caused by fungal taxa are increasing and are placing a substantial burden on economies and ecosystems worldwide. Of the emerging fungal diseases, chytridomycosis caused by the fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (hereafter Bd) is linked to global amphibian declines. Amphibians have innate immunity, as well as additional resistance through cutaneous microbial commu...

The Rust Fungi

The rust fungi are a monophyletic group of approximately 7000 species in the basidiomycota and are highly specialized obligate parasites of plants. The life cycle of rusts can be complex. Some rusts have up to five spore stages that alternate between haploid and dikaryotic nuclear conditions and that can occur on two taxonomically unrelated host plants. The rusts have evolved specialized struct...

The Advance of the Fungi

The tremendous advances of recent years in molecular biology warrant a summary statement of our knowledge in the form of a text for the beginner in the field. James D. Watson, 1962 Nobelist in Physiology and Medicine, has superbly filled this need with his lucid account of the Molecular Biology of the Gene. As the author has aimed his report toward the nonspecialist, he has assumed only the inf...

The fitness of filamentous fungi.

Fitness is a common currency in comparative biology. Without data on fitness, hypotheses about the adaptive significance of phenotypes or basic mechanisms of evolution, for example natural selection, remain speculative. Experiments with fungi can address questions specific to fungi or questions with a broader significance. Fungi can challenge the generality of fundamental evolutionary principle...