This detailed book collects standard techniques and cutting-edge methods that are frequently used by the research community studying the fungus Trichoderma reesei. Beginning with overviews of its evolution, its use in the production of industrially-relevant enzymes, and synthetic biology applications, the volume continues with methods covering topics from transformation techniques and gene editing to downstream-analytical applications and -omics analyses and the corresponding bioinformatics approaches. Written for the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and practical, Trichoderma reesei: Methods and Protocols serves as an ideal guide for a wide range of audiences, from students who want to familiarize themselves with basic research protocols to experienced scientists who are planning to establish a new method in their laboratories, working with this dynamic fungus.

Recent changes in the pattern of agricultural practices from use of hazardous pesticides to natural (organic) cultivation has brought into focus the use of agriculturally important microorganisms for carrying out analogous functions. The reputation of plant growth promoting rhizomicroorganisms (PGPRs) is due to their antagonistic mechanisms against most of the fungal and bacterial phytopathogens. The biocontrol potential of agriculturally important microorganisms is mostly attributed to their bioactive secondary metabolites. However, low shelf life of many potential agriculturally important microorganisms impairs their use in agriculture and adoption by farmers. The focal theme of this book is to highlight the potential of employing biosynthesized secondary metabolites (SMs) from agriculturally important microorganisms for management of notorious phytopathogens, as a substitute of the currently available whole organism formulations and also as alternatives to hazardous synthetic pesticides. Accordingly, we have incorporated a comprehensive rundown of sections which particularly examine the SMs synthesized, secreted and induced by various agriculturally important microorganisms and their applications in agriculture. Section 1 includes discussion on biosynthesized antimicrobial secondary metabolites from fungal biocontrol agents. This section will cover the various issues such as development of formulation of secondary metabolites, genomic basis of metabolic diversity, metabolomic profiling of fungal biocontrol agents, novel classes of antimicrobial peptides. The section 1 will also cover the role of these secondary metabolites in antagonist-host interaction and application of biosynthesized antimicrobial secondary metabolites for management of plant diseases. Section 2 will discuss the biosynthesized secondary metabolites from bacterial PGPRs, strain dependent effects on plant metabolome profile, bio-prospecting various isolates of bacterial PGPRs for potential secondary metabolites and non-target effects of PGPR on microbial community structure and functions. Section 3 encompasses synthesis of antimicrobial secondary metabolites from beneficial endophytes, bio-prospecting medicinal and aromatic hosts and effect of endophytic SMs on plants under biotic and biotic stress conditions.

Traditional studies in mycology mainly deal with damage caused by fungi, for instance, diseases of plants, animal ailments, air-borne pathogens, decomposition of wood and production of mycotoxins in food. Applied mycology focuses on the fermentation of foods (flours, bakery products, cheese and others) and production of fermented products (wine, beer and spirit). Further value-added approaches show the significance of fungi in the production of bioactive metabolites and pharmaceuticals used in the treatment of human diseases, including cancer, and plant diseases (e.g. pest control). Due to a dependence on fossil resources, production of bio-renewable merchandise gained importance and fungi serve as potential biological agents in sustaining global economy. Recent developments in mycology revealed their significance in the fields of advanced research, in particular building materials, packaging resources, electronic devises and leather-like goods. In addition, fungi possess several qualities to degrade non-biodegradable compounds in the ecosystem and assist in sustainable waste bioremediation. This book covers the current biotechnological advances and bio-prospect potential of fungi. Fungal biopolymers possess various applications, including prebiotics, therapeutics, immunoceuticals, drug-discovery and drug-delivery. Fungal bioactive metabolites have several implications beyond antibiotics, such as volatiles, biofuels, nematicides and pigments. They also serve as prospective tools in the production of nanoparticles of medicinal, nutritional and industrial significance. In view of environmental protection, fungal activity and products aid in bioremediation via degradation of xenobiotics and solid wastes. Fungi can produce agriculturally compatible metabolites to enhance plant production. Knowledge on fungal genomics facilitates the gene manipulation towards biotechnological applications (disease diagnosis, pathogen detection, gene expression and mutualistic interactions). This book addresses the application of fungi in different areas and serves as a potential knowledge bank for graduates, post-graduates and researchers contemplating fungal applications.

Fungi are important plant pathogens which can be responsible for significant yield losses and in some cases, even complete losses in the infected fields or crops. In many cases, fungi coexist in symbiotic association with plant roots and provide benefits to the plants. Therefore, understanding the diversity of the fungi that interact with plants both in symbiotic and pathogenic interaction is critical to harness the beneficial species and strains and control the pathogenic species and strains. Developments in the field of molecular biology move very fast comparatively, books covering the various aspects of molecular biology of fungi are always welcomed by scientists. Features recent trends in phytomycology and fungal biology studies using modern molecular tools. Contains information on improved methods in genetics, genomics and metabolomics.

Grow-your-own food fans will be delighted to hear that it's possible to have tasty, homegrown mushrooms to eat every month of the year. This easy-to-follow, practical book explains how to grow them in the garden, balcony, kitchen or cellar. Mushrooms are an organic, sustainable and delicious form of plant nutrition and fungi experts Magdalena Wurth and Herbert Wurth take you through every step of the cultivation process. Learn how to grow 19 different mushroom helped along by clear tables, drawings and photographs. Whether you start mushroom growing outdoors on tree stumps and straw bales or indoors using compost or a kit, these tried-and-tested methods make this the ultimate book on small-scale mushroom growing.

The purpose of this and future volumes of the Handbook of Genetics is to bring together a collection of relatively short, authoritative essays or annotated compilations of data on topics of significance to geneticists. Many of the essays will deal with various aspects of the biology of certain species selected because they are favorite subjects for genetic investigation in nature or the laboratory. Often there will be an encyclopedic amount of information available on such a species, with new papers appearing daily. Most of these will be written for specialists in a jargon that is be wildering to a novice, and sometimes even to a veteran geneticist working with evolutionarily distant organisms. For such readers what is needed is a written introduction to the morphology, life cycle, reproductive be havior, and culture methods for the species in question. What are its par ticular advantages (and disadvantages) for genetic study, and what have we learned from it? Where are the classic papers, the key bibliographies, and how does one get stocks of wild type or mutant strains? The chapters devoted to different species will contain information of this sort. Only a few hundreds of the millions of species available to biologists have been subjected to detailed genetic study. However, those that have make up a very heterogeneous sample of the living world."

White biotechnology is industrial biotechnology dealing with various biotech products through applications of microbes. The main application of white biotechnology is commercial production of various useful organic substances, such as acetic acid, citric acid, acetone, glycerine, etc., and antibiotics like penicillin, streptomycin, mitomycin, etc., and value added product through the use of microorganisms especially fungi and bacteria. The value-added products included bioactive compounds, secondary metabolites, pigments and industrially important enzymes for potential applications in agriculture, pharmaceuticals, medicine and allied sectors for human welfare. In the 21st century, techniques were developed to harness fungi to protect human health (through antibiotics, antimicrobial, immunosuppressive agents, value-added products etc.), which led to industrial scale production of enzymes, alkaloids, detergents, acids, biosurfactants. The first large-scale industrial applications of modern biotechnology have been made in the areas of food and animal feed production (agricultural/green biotechnology) and pharmaceuticals (medical/red biotechnology). In contrast, the production of bio-active compounds through fermentation or enzymatic conversion is known industrial or white biotechnology. The beneficial fungal strains may play important role in agriculture, industry and the medical sectors. The beneficial fungi play a significance role in plant growth promotion, and soil fertility using both, direct (solubilization of phosphorus, potassium and zinc; production of indole acetic acid, gibberellic acid, cytokinin and siderophores) and indirect (production of hydrolytic enzymes, siderophores, ammonia, hydrogen cyanides and antibiotics) mechanisms of plant growth promotion for sustainable agriculture. The fungal strains and their products (enzymes, bio-active compounds and secondary metabolites) are very useful for industry. The discovery of antibiotics is a milestone in the development of white biotechnology. Since then, white biotechnology has steadily developed and now plays a key role in several industrial sectors, providing both high valued nutraceuticals and pharmaceutical products. The fungal strains and bio-active compounds also play important role in the environmental cleaning. This volume covers the latest research developments related to value-added products in white biotechnology through fungi.

Sebacinales have emerged as a fascinating order with mutualistic plant-fungal symbionts that consists of exclusively beneficial fungi.

This volume of Soil Biology presents an overview of the current results in Sebacinales research with a focus on the potential of these fungi in crop improvement and stress tolerance. The authors demonstrate that Sebacinales are not only extremely versatile in their associations with roots, but are also almost universally present as symptomless endophytes. With this extraordinary diversity, Sebacinales with the key fungus "Piriformospora indica" might possess remarkable significance in natural ecosystems. Their biotechnological applications are expected to improve the quality of crops while maintaining ecologically and economically sustainable production systems.

The Pictorial Atlas of Soilborne Fungal Plant Pathogens and Diseases describes the soilborne fungal diseases caused by Oomycetes, Zygomycetes, Ascomycetes, Basidiomycetes, and Deuteromycetous (Anamorphic) fungi. Soilborne fungal diseases are significant as both environmental and agricultural problems, yet it is difficult to understand the ecology of pathogenic fungi and its effective control. This book provides very detailed information on many of the commonly and not so commonly encountered groups of soilborne fungi diseases. It will be a useful reference for those teaching and conducting research in mycology, plant pathology, soilborne plant diseases, and the ecology of fungal communities.

How the prized matsutake mushroom is remaking human communities in China-and providing new ways to understand human and more-than-human worlds What a Mushroom Lives For pushes today's mushroom renaissance in compelling new directions. For centuries, Western science has promoted a human- and animal-centric framework of what counts as action, agency, movement, and behavior. But, as Michael Hathaway shows, the world-making capacities of mushrooms radically challenge this orthodoxy by revealing the lively dynamism of all forms of life. The book tells the fascinating story of one particularly prized species, the matsutake, and the astonishing ways it is silently yet powerfully shaping worlds, from the Tibetan plateau to the mushrooms' final destination in Japan. Many Tibetan and Yi people have dedicated their lives to picking and selling this mushroom-a delicacy that drives a multibillion-dollar global trade network and that still grows only in the wild, despite scientists' intensive efforts to cultivate it in urban labs. But this is far from a simple story of humans exploiting a passive, edible commodity. Rather, the book reveals the complex, symbiotic ways that mushrooms, plants, humans, and other animals interact. It explores how the world looks to the mushrooms, as well as to the people who have grown rich harvesting them. A surprise-filled journey into science and human culture, this exciting and provocative book shows how fungi shape our planet and our lives in strange, diverse, and often unimaginable ways.

The present volume by the author is based on the outcome of extensive explorations in the Himalayas for more than a decade. It incorporates the original research findings along with that based on literature survey. It is intended to provide a comprehensive account of an important group of fungi which has a direct bearing on wood industry and forest ecosystem besides commercial application in bioremediation and pollution control. It is the first step in providing the mycologists with consolidated, systematically up-to-date and illustrative monograph of wood-rotting fungi of Himalayas. Every year the students of the post graduate colleges and universities particularly Indian sub-continent go in for fungal forays to collect fungi which forms part of their course curriculum. This book will serve as a field manual for identification. The book has more than 240 color photographs and 123 plates of camera lucida drawings covering all the fungi which have been reported till-to-date from the study area.

Fungi Bio-prospects in Sustainable Agriculture: Fungal metabolites and Nano-technology is a three-volume series that has been designed to explore the huge potential of the many diverse applications of fungi to human life. The series unveils the latest developments and scientific advances in the study of the biodiversity of fungi, extremophilic fungi, and fungal secondary metabolites and enzymes, while also presenting cutting-edge molecular tools used to study fungi. Readers will learn all about the recent progress and future potential applications of fungi in agriculture, environmental remediation, industry, food safety, medicine, and nanotechnology. Volume 3 provides a comprehensive account of fungal metabolites, including bioactive and host origin compounds, along with other biomolecules, and mycotoxins. This book includes the applications, limitations, and prospects of working with fungal secondary metabolites. The authors explore fungi in the myco-mediated synthesis of nanoparticles along with their biotechnological, industrial, and agricultural uses. This book also discusses advancements in medical mycology for the diagnosis and treatment of fungal infections. Furthermore, this book provides up-to-date and in-depth knowledge about the adoption of advanced CRISPR-Cas9 technology in fungi for gene editing

The book is comprised of more than a dozen chapters on fungi from different substrates including fossilized leaves. It discusses association of fungi occurring on important plants, some animals, and saprophytic substrates. Besides the taxonomic information, some ecological aspects like distribution and substrate/host preferences are discussed. The book also reviews the myxomycete.

This volume covers the latest experimental protocols used by researchers to study the recently emerged fungal pathogen of humans, Candida auris, and also explores the pathogen's antifungal resistance, virulence, and pathogenicity. The chapters in this book cover topics such as the identification of C. auris in clinic samples by PCR and mass spectrometry; molecular typing to identify clade affiliation; genetic manipulation; genome analysis by bioinformatics; and phenotypic characterization using various biochemical, mass spectrometry, microscopy, and flow cytometry approaches. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Cutting-edge and practical, Candida auris: Methods and Protocols is a valuable resource for researchers interested in learning more about this developing field.

This book aims to fill the gap by documenting thermophilic fungi discovered over the past five decades. The chapters spans from covering basic aspects, taxonomy and classification including molecular phyologeny and biotechnological applications of thermophilic fungi.

The roots of most plants are colonized by symbiotic fungi to form mycorrhiza, which play a critical role in the capture of nutrients from the soil and therefore in plant nutrition. "Mycorrhizal Symbiosis" is recognized as the definitive work in this area. Since the last edition was published there have been major advances in the field, particularly in the area of molecular biology, and the new edition has been fully revised and updated to incorporate these exciting new developments.
Over 50% new material
Includes expanded colour plate section
Covers all aspects of mycorrhiza
Presents new taxonomy
Discusses the impact of proteomics and genomics on research in this area

Yeasts and filamentous fungi need to cope with stress, whether growing in the laboratory or in the natural environment, whether victims or offenders in interactions with other organisms. These considerations are discussed in this volume that coveres stress in the broad sense, within the context of mycology.
* Includes discussions of the stresses associated with organism-organism interactions and stress under controlled conditions
* Anthropogenic stress towards fungi in the environment and the impacts that such stressors may have on different organisms and communities in the wild are explained
* Encompasses a breadth of information from the bigger picture of stress effects on fungi in their natural habitats, to the recent advances in underlying molecular-level understanding

Unlike any other source on the subject, this reference provides an up-to-date account of fungal syndromes in immunocompromised patients and provides expert descriptions of their clinical manifestations and settings in which they cause illness-covering the pros and cons of current and emerging diagnostic measures, techniques to incorporate new diagnostic tools and treatments into established clinical practices, and the most recent therapeutic strategies in patient care.

Exploring breakthroughs in fungal detection and control, this book covers fungal nomenclature, population instability, and phylogeny, as well as investigative research on Peronosporomycetes, Zygomycetes, Filamentous Ascomycetes, Basidiomycetous Yeasts, Endomycetes and Blastomycetes, and Miscellaneous Opportunistic Fungi. It offers methods to identify zoopathogenic fungi, analyze reports of putative pathogens, develop methods for detection, isolation, and characterization of pathogenic fungi, evaluate emerging strain-typing techniques, target molecules for diagnostic tests, and examine the patterns and mechanisms of genetic variation.

In this highly entertaining book, mycologist David Moore presents a fascinating and lively guide to the fungal kingdom. He explores their role in food and agriculture and their dual role as infectious agents and providers of the most potent antibiotics. He also explores their fascinating evolutionary origins and shows us how life would not be possible without them. Throughout, the book relates interesting stories such as the Irish Potato famine and the discovery of penicillin. Anyone interested in biology and the natural world will find this an enjoyable and informative read.

Fungi that inhabit polar-region can grow and decompose organic compounds under subzero temperatures play important roles in the nutrient cycle of polar-region ecosystems. Thus, changes in the mycoflora affect the ecological recycling in these regions, and understanding the cold-adaptation strategies of fungi under extreme environments is critical for a better understanding of polar-region ecosystems. Due to their ability to survive under extreme environments, fungi in polar-region are seen to show potential for utilization in biotechnologies. This book presents our current understanding of the mycoflora in polar-region and their cold adaptation strategies, and applied studies using their abilities.

Endophytic fungi belonging to the Balansieae tribe were first hypothesized to cause poor livestock performance in 1977 and, in 1980, the association was validated. The fungi were extensively studied and classified according to morphology, their life cycles exam- ined to determine methods to eliminate the fungi in grasses, and practical methods devel- oped for livestock producers to eliminate endophyte-infected plants from pastures and establish endophyte-free plants. Hindsight illustrates how primitive was our understanding of the associations between endophyte, grass plant, and animal. The plant/endophyte asso- ciations, thought to be rare cases, have now been identified in grasses that are adapted from tropical to nearly arctic, and from marshland to desert climatic regimes. In the two decades that have passed since the first endophyte-plant-animal associa- tion was made, the scientific community has re-classified the endophytic fungi twice (now the genus Neotyphodium), ~he systematics and ecological role of endophytes have been more clearly defined, endophytes and grasses are now generally accepted as mutualistic symbionts, the chemistry of toxins and their functions defined, beneficial effects of endo- phytes on plants identified, and commercial ventures have emerged based upon endophyte research in the turfgrass and livestock industries.

This volume provides an overview of the main yeast production platforms currently used and future yeast cell factories for recombinant protein production. Chapters detail approaches of genetic and metabolic engineering, co-factor containing proteins and virus-like particles, glycoproteins, and post-translational modifications of proteins. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and cutting-edge, Recombinant Protein Production in Yeast: Methods and Protocols aims to provide state of the art background and methods for protein producing yeast platforms, as well as case studies for special applications.