This new edition offersdetailed overviews coveringa wide area of fungal growth and reproduction on the mechanistic and molecularlevel. It includes 18 chapters by eminent scientists in the field and is – likethe previous edition – divided into the three sections: Vegetative Processes and Growth, Signals in Growth and Development, and Reproductive Processes. Major topics ofthe first section include dynamic intracellular processes, apical growth,hyphal fusion, and aging. The second section analyses autoregulatory signals,pheromone action, and photomorphogenesis and gravitropism abiotic signals. Thethird section reveals details of asexual and sexual development in variousfungal model systems, culminating in fruit body formation in basidiomycetes,which is a sector of growing economic potential.
Since the publication of the first edition of this volume in 1994 and thesecond edition in 2006, the field of fungal biology has continued to expand thanksto improvements in omics technologies and the application of genetic tools toan increasing variety of fungal models. Several additional chapters by a newgeneration of fungal biologists discuss this diversity and guarantee livelyreading.