Foreword

Fungi: The threads that keep ecosystems together

When people ask what I do for a living, and I tell them I'm a mycologist, they
usually react with surprise. Often they don't know what a mycologist is, but when
I tell them, the next question is "why?" Why study fungi?
When someone mentions "fungi" you may think immediately of mushrooms
on pizza or maybe moldy food in your refrigerator or the fungus growing on your
t o e s - But in fact fungi are everywhere and affect our lives every day, from
mushrooms to industrially important products to plant helpers to plant
pathogens to human diseases.
Fungi affect human lives in many and varied ways, so it is important to know
something about fungal biology in order to be able to control or exploit them for
our own purposes. The study of fungi has increased exponentially in the past 100
years, but they are still being ignored or neglected in many fields of study. For
example, more than 90% of fungal species have never been screened for
antibiotics or other useful compounds. Many ecologists do not even think about
fungi when doing their experiments or observations. However fungi play very
important roles in the ecosystem. They are a vital part of the links in the food web
as decomposers and pathogens and are important in grassland and forest
ecosystems alike. Fungi have many different kinds of associations with other
organisms, both living and dead. Since all fungi are heterotrophic, they rely on
organic material, either living or dead, as a source of energy. Thus, many are
excellent scavengers in nature, breaking down dead animal and vegetable
material into simpler compounds that become available to other members of the
ecosystem. Fungi are also important mutualists; over 90% of plants in nature
have mycorrhizae, associations of their roots with fungi, which help to scavenge
essential minerals from nutrient poor soils. Fungi also form mutualistic
associations with algae and cyanobacteria in the dual organisms known as
lichens.
On the other hand, many fungi are detrimental, inciting a large number of plant
diseases, resulting in the loss of billions of dollars worth of economic crops each
year, and an increasing number of animal diseases, including many human
maladies. Fungi can cause human disease, either directly or through their toxins,
including mycotoxins and mushroom poisons. They often cause rot and
contamination of foods - you probably have something green and moldy in the
back of your refrigerator right now. They can destroy almost every kind of
manufactured good- with the exception of some plastics and some pesticides. In
this age of immunosuppression, previously innocuous fungi are causing more and
more human disease.
There are many ways in which people have learned to exploit fungi. Of course,
there are many edible mushrooms, both cultivated and collected from the wild.
Yeasts have been used for baking and brewing for many millennia. Antibiotics
such as penicillin and cephalosporin are produced by fungi. The
immunosuppressive anti-rejection transplant drug cyclosporin is produced by the
mitosporic fungus Tolypocladium inflatum. Steroids and hormones- and even
birth control pills - are commercially produced by various fungi. Many organic
acids are commercially produced with fungi- e.g. citric acid in cola and other
soda pop products is produced by an Aspergillus species. Some gourmet cheeses
such as Roquefort and other blue cheeses, brie and camembert are fermented with
certain Penicillium species. Stone washed jeans are softened by Tricboderma
species. There are likely many potential uses that have not yet been explored.
Fungi are also important experimental organisms. They are easily cultured,
occupy little space, multiply rapidly, and have a short life cycle. Since they are
eukaryotes and more closely related to animals, their study is more applicable to
human problems than is the study of bacteria. Fungi are used to study metabolite
pathways, for studying growth, development, and differentiation, for determining
mechanisms of cell division and development, and for microbial assays of
vitamins and amino acids. Fungi are also important genetic tools, e.g. the "one
gene one enzyme" theory in Neurospora won Beadle and Tatum the Nobel prize
for Physiology or Medicine in 1958. The first eukaryote to have its entire DNA
genome sequenced was the bakers' and brewers' yeast Saccbaromyces cerevisiae.
Mycologists study many aspects of the biology of fungi, usually starting with
their systematics, taxonomy, and classification (you have to know "what it is"
before you can work effectively with it), and continuing on to their physiology,
ecology, pathology, evolution, genetics, and molecular biology. There are quite a
few disciplines of applied mycology, such as plant pathology, human pathology,
fermentation technology, mushroom cultivation and many other fields.
Fungi never fail to fascinate me. They have interesting life cycles and occupy
many strange, even bizarre, niches in the environment. Take for example
Entomopbtbora muscae, a fungus that infects houseflies. The spores of the fungus
land on the unfortunate fly and germinate, then penetrate the exoskeleton of the
fly. The first thing the fungus does, according to reports, is grow into the brain of
the fly, in order to control its activities. The mycelium of the fungus grows into
the particular area of the brain that controls the crawling behavior of the fly,
forcing the fly to land on a nearby surface and crawl up as high as possible.
Eventually the hyphae of the fungus grow throughout the body of the fly,
digesting its guts, and the fly dies. Small cracks open in the body of the fly and the
Entomopbtbora produces sporangia, each with a single spore, which are then
released in hopes of landing on another fly.
Other fungi, such as the dung fungus Pilobolus, produce spore "capsules" that
are shot off with great force, up to 3 meters away from their 1 cm sporulating
structure. Some fungi are "farmed" by Attine ants and by termites. Some fungi
can actually trap and eat small worms called nematodes. Known for their diverse
and amazing physiology, fungi can grow through solid wood, and in lichen
associations can even break down rocks. Fungi have intriguing and captivating
sex lives, some species with thousands of different sexes. Tetrad analysis in the
Ascomycetes has helped to solve some fundamental mysteries about genetics in
eukaryotic organisms.
I am pleased to introduce you to THE book for teaching and for learning fungal
biology. Michael Carlile, Sarah Watkinson, and Graham Gooday have produced
an eminently readable book to introduce students to all aspects of the biology of
fungi, including physiology and growth of hyphae and spores, fungal genetics,
fungal ecology and how these aspects of the fungi can be exploited in
biotechnology. The authors cover many of the topics I have alluded to above in
great depth, as well as thoroughly explaining the mostly hidden lives of fungi.
For new students of the fungi, I know you will enjoy learning about these
amazing organisms. For those of you who are already mycophiles, this book will
serve as a handy reference to fungi and their activities.

Thomas J. Volk
Department of Biology
University of Wisconsin- La Crosse
http://www.wisc.edu/botany/fungi/volkmyco.html