Mycology

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mushrooms are considered a kind of fungal reproductive organism.

Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungi, including their genetic
and biochemical properties, their taxonomy and their use to humans as a source for tinder,
medicine, food, and entheogens, as well as their dangers, such as toxicity or infection.

A biologist specializing in mycology is called a mycologist.

Mycology branches into the field of phytopathology, the study of plant diseases, and the two
disciplines remain closely related because the vast majority of plant pathogens are fungi.

Contents
 1 Overview
 2 History
 3 Mycology and drug discovery
 4 See also
 5 References
o 5.1 Cited literature
 6 External links

Overview
Historically, mycology was a branch of botany because, although fungi are evolutionarily
more closely related to animals than to plants, this was not recognized until a few decades
ago. Pioneer mycologists included Elias Magnus Fries, Christian Hendrik Persoon, Anton de
Bary, and Lewis David von Schweinitz.

Many fungi produce toxins, antibiotics, and other secondary metabolites. For example, the
cosmopolitan (worldwide) genus Fusarium and their toxins associated with fatal outbreaks of
alimentary toxic aleukia in humans were extensively studied by Abraham Joffe.
Fungi are fundamental for life on earth in their roles as symbionts, e.g. in the form of
mycorrhizae, insect symbionts, and lichens. Many fungi are able to break down complex
organic biomolecules such as lignin, the more durable component of wood, and pollutants
such as xenobiotics, petroleum, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. By decomposing
these molecules, fungi play a critical role in the global carbon cycle.

Fungi and other organisms traditionally recognized as fungi, such as oomycetes and
myxomycetes (slime molds), often are economically and socially important, as some cause
diseases of animals (such as histoplasmosis) as well as plants (such as Dutch elm disease and
Rice blast).

Apart from pathogenic fungi, many fungal species are very important in controlling the plant
diseases caused by different pathogens. For example, species of the filamentous fungal genus
Trichoderma considered as one of the most important biological control agents as an
alternative to chemical based products for effective crop diseases management.[1]

Field meetings to find interesting species of fungi are known as 'forays', after the first such
meeting organized by the Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club in 1868 and entitled "A foray
among the funguses"[sic].[2]

Some fungi can cause disease in humans and other animals - The study of pathogenic fungi
that infect animals is referred to as medical mycology.[3]

History
It is presumed that humans started collecting mushrooms as food in prehistoric times.
Mushrooms were first written about in the works of Euripides (480-406 B.C.). The Greek
philosopher Theophrastos of Eresos (371-288 B.C.) was perhaps the first to try to
systematically classify plants; mushrooms were considered to be plants missing certain
organs. It was later Pliny the Elder (23–79 A.D.), who wrote about truffles in his
encyclopedia Naturalis historia. The word mycology comes from the Greek: μύκης (mukēs),
meaning "fungus" and the suffix -λογία (-logia), meaning "study".

The Middle Ages saw little advancement in the body of knowledge about fungi. Rather, the
invention of the printing press allowed some authors to disseminate superstitions and
misconceptions about the fungi that had been perpetuated by the classical authors.[4]

Fungi and truffles

“ are neither herbs,

nor roots, nor
flowers, nor
seeds, but merely
the superfluous
moisture or earth,
of trees, or rotten
wood, and of
other rotting
things. This is
plain from the
”
 fact that all fungi
and truffles,
especially those
that are used for
eating, grow most
commonly in
thundery and wet
weather.

— Jerome Bock (Hieronymus

Tragus), 1552[5]

The start of the modern age of mycology begins with Pier Antonio Micheli's 1737 publication
of Nova plantarum genera.[6] Published in Florence, this seminal work laid the foundations
for the systematic classification of grasses, mosses and fungi. The term mycology and the
complementary mycologist were first used in 1836 by M.J. Berkeley.[7]

Mycology and drug discovery

Main article: Medicinal fungi

For centuries, certain mushrooms have been documented as a folk medicine in China, Japan,
and Russia.[8] Although the use of mushrooms in folk medicine is centered largely on the
Asian continent, people in other parts of the world like the Middle East, Poland, and Belarus
have been documented using mushrooms for medicinal purposes.[9][10] Certain mushrooms,
especially polypores like reishi were thought to be able to benefit a wide variety of health
ailments. Medicinal mushroom research in the United States is currently active, with studies
taking place at City of Hope National Medical Center,[11][12] as well as the Memorial Sloan–
Kettering Cancer Center.[13]

Current research focuses on mushrooms that may have hypoglycemic activity, anti-cancer
activity, anti-pathogenic activity, and immune system-enhancing activity. Recent research has
found that the oyster mushroom naturally contains the cholesterol-lowering drug lovastatin,
mushrooms produce large amounts of vitamin D when exposed to ultraviolet (UV) light,[14]
and that certain fungi may be a future source of taxol.[15] To date, penicillin, lovastatin,
ciclosporin, griseofulvin, cephalosporin and LSD-25 are the most famous drugs that have
been isolated from the fifth kingdom of life.

See also

 Fungi portal

 Ethnomycology
 Fungal biochemical test
 List of mycologists
 List of mycology journals
 Mushroom hunting
  Mycotoxicology
 Pathogenic fungi
 Protistology

References
1.

 Ruano-Rosa, David; Prieto, Pilar; Rincón, Ana María; Gómez-Rodríguez, María Victoria;
Valderrama, Raquel; Barroso, Juan Bautista; Mercado-Blanco, Jesús (2015-11-07). "Fate of
Trichoderma harzianum in the olive rhizosphere: time course of the root colonization process
and interaction with the fungal pathogen Verticillium dahliae". BioControl. 61 (3): 269–282.
doi:10.1007/s10526-015-9706-z. ISSN 1386-6141.
  Anon (1868). "A foray among the funguses". Transactions of the Woolhope Naturalists'
Field Club: 184–192.
  San-Blas G; Calderone RA (editors). (2008). Pathogenic Fungi. Caister Academic
Press. ISBN 978-1-904455-32-5.
  Ainsworth, p. 13.
  De stirpium maxime earum quae in Germania nostra nascuntur, usitatis nomenclaturis.
Strasbourg. In Ainsworth, p. 13, quoting Buller, AHR. (1915). Micheli and the discovery of
reproduction in fungi. Transactions of the royal Society of Canada, series 3 9: 1–25.
  Ainsworth, p. 4.
  Ainsworth, p. 2.
  Smith JE, Rowan NJ, Sullivan R (May 2002). "Medicinal Mushrooms: Their therapeutic
properties and current medical usage with special emphasis on cancer treatments". Cancer
Research UK. p. 5. Archived from the original on 2009-08-31.
  Sarfaraz Khan Marwat; Mir Ajab Khan; Muhammad Aslam Khan; Mushtaq Ahmad;
Muhammad Zafar; Fazal-ur-Rehman and Shazia Sultana (2009). "Aromatic Plant Species
Mentioned in the Holy Qura'n and Ahadith and Their Ethnomedicinal Importance" (PDF).
Pakistan Journal of Nutrition. 8 (9): 1472–1479. doi:10.3923/pjn.2009.1472.1479. Sahih
Muslim, Book 23, Chapter 27, Hadiths
  Template:Colour spacecite journal
  Di Rado, Alicia (July 2008). "A salad fixin' with medical benefits?". EHope. City of
Hope National Medical Center. 7 (7).
  Di Rado, Alicia (November 2008). "Can a mushroom help fight lung cancer?". EHope.
City of Hope National Medical Center. 7 (11).
  Deng G, Lin H, Seidman A (September 2009). "A phase I/II trial of a polysaccharide
extract from Grifola frondosa (Maitake mushroom) in breast cancer patients: immunological
effects". Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology. 135 (9): 1215–21.
doi:10.1007/s00432-009-0562-z. PMC 3751581  . PMID 19253021.
  Bowerman, Susan (March 31, 2008), "If mushrooms see the light", The Los Angeles
Times

15.  Ji, Y; Bi; Yan; Zhu (Jan 2006), "Taxol-producing fungi: a new approach to
industrial production of taxol" (Free full text), Sheng wu gong cheng xue bao = Chinese
journal of biotechnology, 22 (1): 1–6, doi:10.1016/s1872-2075(06)60001-0,
ISSN 1000-3061, PMID 16572833
Cited literature

 Geoffrey Clough Ainsworth (1976). Introduction to the History of Mycology.

Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-21013-3.

External links

Library resources about

Mycology

 Resources in your library

 Professional organizations
o BMS: British Mycological Society (United Kingdom)
o MSA: Mycological Society of America (North America)
 Amateur organizations
o MSSF: Mycological Society of San Francisco
o North American Mycological Association (list of amateur organizations in
North America)
o Puget Sound Mycological Society
o Oregon Mycological Society
o Illinois Mycological Association
 Miscellaneous links
o Online lectures in mycology University of South Carolina
o The WWW Virtual Library: Mycology
o MykoWeb links page
o Mycological Glossary at the Illinois Mycological Association
o FUNGI Magazine for professionals and amateurs - largest circulating U.S.
publication concerning all things mycological]
o Fungal Cell Biology Group at University of Edinburgh, UK.
o Mycological Marvels Cornell University, Mann Library

[show]

 v
 t
 e

Opisthokont: True fungi classification, fungal orders

[show]

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 t
  e

Branches of life science and biology

 LCCN: sh85089188
Authority
 GND: 4139655-8
control
Categories:

 Mycology
 Branches of biology

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