The Fungal Kingdom

REVIEW 1 This large format volume, weighing a hefty 2.8 kg, has taken about four years to prepare. It represents an enormous undertaking, which has involved over 170 mycologists and other researchers. A nine-section structure was worked out by the team of six editors, who stated that it was their "hope, and our goal and intention, that this book both takes stock of the current state of knowledge in the field and also spurs further investigation" (p. xxi). By mid-2015 the scope of each of the 54 chapters had been sketched out and contributors' names that had tentatively been pencilled-in started to be invited. In order to make the task manageable, the sections were assigned to particular editors, each of whom had the responsibility of securing the delivery of contributions and having them reviewed and revised. Chapters necessarily proceeded at different rates, but when they had been completed, they were published online in final form (apart from pagination) on the American Society for Microbiology's Microbiology Spectrum site so that they could start to be used and cited from that source. As anyone who has ever edited a multi-authored volume will know, such works inevitably proceed to completion at the rate of the slowest. It was only after that point was reached in 2017 that the book could finally be put together, paginated, indexed, bound and published. The nine sections decided upon were: (1) Fungal branches on the eukaryotic tree of life (5 chapters); (2) Life of fungi (10); (3) Fungal ecology (3); (4) How fungi sense their environment (7); (5) Fungal genetics and genomics as models for biology (8); (6) Fungal interactions with plants: impact on agriculture and the biosphere (5); (7) Fungi and the human host (6); (8) Fungal interactions with animals (fungi, insects, and nematodes) and other microbes (6); and (9) Fungal technology and natural products (4). It would be invidious to highlight particular chapters here, but in general I have found them not to be only dry reviews, but also to contain new syntheses and insights into many of them; a consequence of the editors having gone to great efforts to secure the world leaders in the assigned topics where possible. Indeed, the list of contributors reads rather like a Who's Who of mycology. The whole is well-presented with numerous figures, many of which are in colour, and all chapters have extensive reference lists. The price is far from unreasonable for such a massive hard-bound work, and as this is a real vade mecum for mycology all mycological libraries should acquire a copy, and I am sure most mycologists will also aspire to own one. The editors are to be congratulated on this truly momentous achievement." -BOOK NEWS REVIEW (NO INDIVIDUAL REVIEWER NOTED) REVIEW 2 A fabulous book that presents a broad overview of our current knowledge of the fungi, with individual chapters written by leading scientists and assembled by an editorial panel of distinguished mycologists. A wonderful resource for anyone interested in the fungal kingdom. -Bruce McDonald, Plant Pathology, Institute of Integrative Biology, Zurich"

Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, USA.

Section 1: Fungal Branches on the Eukaryotic Tree of Life 1. Realm and Classification of the Fungal Kingdom Joseph Spatafora, John Taylor, and Rytas Vilgalys 2. What Fungal Traits Matter and How They Evolve Lazlo Nagy and Tim James 3. What Defines the "Kingdom" Fungi? Thomas Richards 4. Fungal Diversity Revisited: 2.2 to 3.8 Million Species David Hawksworth, Robert Lucking, and Paul Kirk 5. Microsporidia: Obligate Intracellular Pathogens within the Fungal Kingdom Realm Louis Weiss Section 2: Life of Fungi 6. Fungal Sex: The Ascomycota Richard Bennett and Gillian Turgeon 7. Fungal Sex: The Basidiomycota Marco A. Coelho et al. 8. Fungal Sex: The Mucoromycota Alex Idnurm and Soo Chan Lee 9. Sex and the Imperfect Fungi Paul Dyer and Ulrich Kuck 10. Molecular Mechanisms Regulating Cell Fusion and Heterokaryon Formation in Filamentous Fungi Jens Heller et al. 11. Cell Biology of Fungal Growth Gero Steinberg and Meritxell Riquelme 12. The Fungal Cell Wall: Structure, Biosynthesis, and Function Carol Munro and Neil Gow 13. Fungal Ecology: Principles of Competition and Colonization by Saprotrophic Fungi Lynne Boddy and Jennifer Hiscox Section 3: Fungal Ecology 14. Long-Distance Dispersal of Fungi Jacob Golan and Anne Pringle 15. The Geomycology of Elemental Cycling and Transformations in the Environment Geoffrey Gadd 16. Ecology of Fungal Plant Pathogens Aad Termorshuizen 17. Key Ecological Roles for Zoosporic True Fungi in Aquatic Habitats Frank H. Gleason et al. Section 4: How Fungi Sense Their Environment 18. The Mycelium as a Network Mark Fricker and Lynne Boddy 19. Nutrient Sensing Mark Johnston et al. 20. The Complexity of Fungal Vision Luis Corrochano and Reinhard Fischer 21. Stress Sensing Alistair J.P. Brown et al. 22. Thigmo Responses: The Fungal Sense of Touch Alexandra Brand and Mariana Cruz Almeida 23. Melanin, Radiation, and Energy Transduction in Fungi Arturo Casadevall et al. 24. Marking Time: Conservation of Biological Clocks from Fungi to Animals Jennifer Loros and Jay Dunlap Section 5: Fungal Genetics and Genomics as Models for Biology 25. Target of Rapamycin (TOR) Regulates Growth in Response to Nutritional Signals Ronit Weisman 26. Fungal Cell Cycle: A Unicellular versus Multicellular Comparison Ilkay Doerter and Michelle Momany 27. A Matter of Scale and Dimensions: Chromatin of Chromosome Landmarks in the Fungi Allyson A. Erlendson, Steven Friedman and Michael Freitag 28. Fungal Ploidy Changes Anna Selmecki 29. Fungal Genomes and Insights into the Evolution of the Kingdom Jason Stajich 30. Sources of Fungal Genetic Variation and Associating It with Phenotypic Diversity John Taylor 31. RNAi in Fungi: Retention and Loss Victoriano Garre and Francisco Nicolas 32. Fungal Prions Daniel Jarosz, Heather True-Krob, and Sven Saupe 33. Repeat-Induced Point Mutation and Other Genome Defense Mechanisms in Fungi Eugene Gladyshev 34. Plant Pathogenic Fungi Gunther Doehlemann and Amir Sharon Section 6: Fungal Interactions with Plants: Impact on Agriculture and the Biosphere 35. The Mutualistic Interaction between Plants and Mycorrhizal Fungi Luisa Lanfranco, Andrea Genre, and Paola Bonfante 36. Lichenized Fungi and the Evolution of Symbiotic Organization Mats Wedin and Martin Grube 37. Role of Effectors in Plant Disease Richard Oliver and Pierre de Wit 38. Emerging Fungal Threats to Plants and Animals Challenge Agriculture and Ecosystem Resilience Helen Fones, Matt Fisher, and Sarah Gurr 39. Fungi That Infect Humans Julia Koehler et al. Section 7: Fungi and the Human Host 40. The Mycobiome: Impact on Health and Disease States Mahmoud Ghannoum and Pat Seed 41. Skin Fungi from Colonization to Infection Sybren de Hoog