Thermophilic Fungi

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.

During the war years, 1944 to 1946, the second author (R.E.) had an unusual opportunity to become familiar with almost all the known thermophilic fungi. He was serving as Microbiologist, with Dr. Paul J. Allen, in the Guayule Rubber Extraction Research Unit of the United States Department of Agriculture at Salinas, California. The Microbiology Laboratory was engaged in a detailed investigation of guayule retting, a process in which the rubber-producing shrub, Parthenium argentatum, wass subjected to microbial action in order to yield a rubber of improved quality.

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.

All important aspects of thermophilic moulds such as systematics, ecology, physiology and biochemistry, production of extracellular and intracellular enzymes, their role in spoilage of stores products and solid and liquid waste management, and general and molecular genetics have been dealt with comprehensively by experts in this book which covers progress in the field over the last 30 years since the seminal book Thermophilic Fungi published by Cooney and Emerson in 1964. The experts have reviewed extensive literature on all aspects of thermophilic moulds in a very comprehensive manner. This book will be useful for graduates as well as post-graduate students of life sciences, mycology, microbiology and biotechnology, and as a reference book for researchers.

Over the last decades, scientists have been intrigued by the fascinating organisms that inhabit extreme environments. These organisms, known as extremophiles, thrive in habitats which for other terrestrial life-forms are intolerably hostile or even lethal. Based on such technological advances, the study of extremophiles has provided, over the last few years, ground-breaking discoveries that challenge the paradigms of modern biology. In the new bioeconomy, fungi in general, play a very important role in addressing major global challenges, being instrumental for improved resource efficiency, making renewable substitutes for products from fossil resources, upgrading waste streams to valuable food and feed ingredients, counteracting life-style diseases and antibiotic resistance through strengthening the gut biota, making crop plants more robust to survive climate change conditions, and functioning as host organisms for production of new biological drugs. This range of new uses of fungi all stand on the shoulders of the efforts of mycologists over generations. The book is organized in five parts: (I) Biodiversity, Ecology, Genetics and Physiology of Extremophilic Fungi, (II) Biosynthesis of Novel Biomolecules and Extremozymes (III) Bioenergy and Biofuel synthesis, and (IV) Wastewater and biosolids treatment, and (V) Bioremediation.

Fungi play vital roles in all ecosystems, as decomposers, symbionts of animals and plants and as parasites. Thus their ecology is of great interest. It has been estimated that there may be as many as 1. 5 million species of fungi, many of which are still undescribed. These interact in various ways with their hosts, with their substrates, with their competitors (including other fungi) and with abiotic variables of their environment. They show great variation in morphology, reproduction, life cycles and modes of dispersal. They grow in almost every conceivable habitat where organic carbon is available: on rock surfaces, in soil, the sea and in fresh water, at extremes of high and low temperature, on dry substrata and in concen trated solutions. Fungal ecology is therefore an enormous subject and its literature is voluminous. In view of this we have had to be selective in the material we have included in this book. We have chosen to concentrate on subjects in which we have some personal experience through either research or teaching. We preferred to tackle a few subjects in depth instead of attempting to cover a wider range of topics superficially. We are conscious of the extensive gaps in coverage: for example on the ecology of lichens, of fungal plant pathogens and of the complex interactions between fungi and animals. It is some justification that book-length treatments of these subjects are available elsewhere.

Today’s accelerated pace of research, aided by new instruments and techniques that combine the approaches of genetics, biochemistry, and cell biology, has changed the character of mycology. A new approach is necessary for the organization and study of fungi. Fungi: Experimental Methods in Biology presents the latest information in fungal biology generated through the application of genetics, molecular biology, and biochemistry. This book analyzes information derived through real experiments, and focuses on unresolved questions in the field. Divided into six sections comprising 14 chapters, the text describes the special features of fungi, interactions of fungi with other organisms, model fungi in research, gene manipulation, adaptations, and natural populations. Each chapter is self-contained and written in a style that enables the reader to progress from elementary concepts to advanced research, benefiting both beginning research workers and experienced professionals. A comprehensive appendix covers the principles in naming fungi and discusses their broad classification.

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.