Fungal genomics and pathogenicity

Abstract

The filamentous fungal genetics community has enthusiastically embraced the utilization of genomics technologies to resolve long-standing issues in fungal biology. For example, such technologies have been proposed to study the mechanics of tip growth, photoreception, gene silencing, the molecular basis of conidiation, the pathway leading to sexual reproduction, and mechanisms of pathogenesis. These studies have provided a refreshing change of pace in research on filamentous fungi, which has lagged behind that on other eukaryotes in the exploitation of genome-wide methodologies. Despite the late start, several fungal genome sequencing projects are underway. The resulting databases will allow the comprehensive analysis of developmental processes that are characteristic of fungi, including the molecular nature of pathogenicity. DNA databases underpin analyses of the fungal transcriptome, proteome, and metabolome. This combined information will contribute to our basic understanding of not only the mechanics of infection but also the evolution of pathogenicity.