The Hidden Fungal Diversity in Asia
A special issue of Diversity (ISSN 1424-2818). This special issue belongs to the section "Microbial Diversity and Culture Collections".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 February 2022) | Viewed by 49159
Special Issue Editors
2. National Institute of Fundamental Studies (NIFS), Kandy, Sri Lanka
Interests: fungal taxonomy; fungal phylogeny; Basidiomycota; Ascomycota; fungal pathogens
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: fungal pathogens; fungal endophytes; fungal taxonomy; fungal phylogeny; diversity of fungal activities
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The kingdom of fungi is one of the most diverse groups of eukaryotic organisms on Earth. Fungi play fundamental ecological roles as decomposers, mutualists, or pathogens. The global fungal diversity is estimated at 0.8 million to 5.1 million species; however, only about 120,000 species have been described. In the last decade, new fungal species have been described using morphological and molecular approaches, but the presence of cryptic species or species complexes has frequently led to overestimations or underestimations of certain taxa. The introduction rate of new fungal species has now reached 2000 species per year. In 2017, the majority of new fungal species were recorded from Asia, accounting for 35%, followed by Europe, Oceania, South America, North America, and Africa. Most Asian regions feature diverse habitats (e.g., coral reefs, islands, mangroves, hot springs, limestones, rain forests, oceans, and caves) with subtropical and tropical climates, where fungi thrive due to the favorable temperatures and humidity. Therefore, Asia is a potential repository of numerous unknown species. Additionally, studies on Asian fungi are important for answering questions regarding global fungal estimates. However, fungi in Asia remain poorly understood due to various reasons viz. lack of study, funding limitations, and inaccessibility.
Due to the increased interest and importance of Asian fungi, the Asian Mycological Association was established in 1977 to promote Asian mycology. Over the past 50 years, fungal species diversity and systematics in Asia have been studied, generating new opportunities to research and investigate biological control, host–fungal interactions, medical mycology, natural products, and genetic engineering of fungal strains for industrial purposes. This Special Issue aims to bring together a collection of papers focusing on fungal diversity in Asia covering areas including but not limited to fungal diversity assessments (traditional methods and metabarcoding), fungal systematics and evolution, fungal interactions with environments and other organisms, and other areas of applications (agricultural, biotechnological, medical, and pharmaceutical).
Prof. Dr. Samantha C. Karunarathna
Dr. Nakarin Suwannarach
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- diversity and taxonomy
- fungal activities
- multigene phylogeny
- next-generation sequencing (NGS)
- fungal secondary metabolites
- fungal pathogens
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