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Fungi represent an ancient and extremely diverse group of eukaryotic organisms, including familiar forms like yeasts, moulds and mushrooms. Recent estimates suggest that around 2.2 to 3.8 million species exist, distributed all over the globe and almost all habitats. Fungi are key players in ecological communities, often forming symbiotic relationships with other species and being vital decomposers and nutrient recyclers. Humans have learned to successfully explore the properties of fungi as sources of food, pharmaceutical, and industrial products.
The Collection will welcome the latest research in the various fields of mycology, from the origin and evolution of the group, species and genetic diversity, to the ecological role and conservation.
There are 5 million fungal species. However, the discovery and classification of fungi are in high flux. Modern concepts indicate that the three kingdoms of “fungi” are Chromista, Fungi and Protozoa. Strong support for the wrong phylogeny can occur without correct analytical methods. In the current Collection we envisaged fungi representing extremely diverse and ancient eukaryotic organisms, with familiar groups such as mushrooms, yeasts and “moulds”. We collected 6 fascinating papers in three areas of Diversity, Chemical Diversity and Evolution.