76 articles
Geosiphon
Geosiphon (Geosiphon pyriformis, synonym G. pyriforme) is a rare glomeromycotan soil fungus in Archaeosporales that uniquely hosts the cyanobacterium Nostoc punctiforme inside bladder-like vesicles instead of forming arbuscular mycorrhiza with plants.
Global spread of chytrid fungi
The global spread of chytrid fungi is the worldwide dissemination of the amphibian pathogens Bd and Bsal, now detected in 86 countries and driven by commercial trade.
Glomalin
Glomalin: glycoprotein discovered in 1996 by Sara Wright, produced by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and measured as glomalin-related soil protein (GRSP); linked to soil aggregation, carbon storage, and a proposed but unconfirmed HSP60 identity.
Glomeromycota
Glomeromycota (AM fungi) is a fungal phylum forming arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis with 70–90% of land plants, exchanging phosphate and nitrogen for up to 20% of plant carbon; established as a phylum in 2001, sometimes treated as subphylum Glomeromycotina.
Glomeromycota classification and orders
Glomeromycota (arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, AMF) is a fungal phylum proposed in 2001, whose classification grew from one order (Glomales, 1990) to four orders (2013 consensus) and nine orders, 26 families, about 60 genera by 2026.
Glomus (fungus)
Glomus, a genus of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (phylum Glomeromycota, family Glomeraceae; type species Glomus macrocarpum) forming root symbioses; historically the largest AMF genus, now known to be non-monophyletic, with species delimited by phosphate transporter genes and many species renamed, e.g. G. intraradices to Rhizophagus.
Intestinal microsporidiosis
Intestinal microsporidiosis is an opportunistic gastrointestinal infection caused chiefly by the parasites Enterocytozoon bieneusi and Encephalitozoon intestinalis, producing chronic watery diarrhea and wasting, mainly in people with HIV/AIDS.
List of fungal orders
The list of fungal orders inventories order-rank taxa in kingdom Fungi, whose count varies by classification, from 46 orders in a 2022 outline to over 200.
Loma
Loma (Morrison & Sprague, 1981) is a genus of fish-infecting microsporidian fungi (Glugeidae) that form xenomas; L. salmonae causes microsporidial gill disease in farmed salmon, L. morhua infects Atlantic cod.
Marmite
Marmite is a dark, thick British yeast extract spread made from brewer's yeast, launched in 1902 in Burton-on-Trent and now a Unilever brand. Distinct from New Zealand Marmite and Vegemite; famous for its love-it-or-hate-it taste and B-vitamin content.
Merlin Sheldrake
Merlin Sheldrake, British biologist and author of Entangled Life (2020), studies underground fungal networks; Cambridge Ph.D. in tropical ecology, SPUN Chief Impact Officer, 2025 Climate Breakthrough Award winner.
Microsporidia
Microsporidia: a phylum of unicellular obligate intracellular fungal-related parasites with resistant 1–4 µm spores and a unique ejectable polar tube; over 1,400 species, at least 15 infect humans, most commonly Enterocytozoon bieneusi.
Mortierella
Mortierella (Coemans, 1863) is a genus of soil-dwelling filamentous fungi in Mortierellaceae, NCBI taxonomy ID 4855. Polyphyletic and revised into 14 genera in 2020; M. alpina is the FDA-certified industrial source of arachidonic acid.
Mortierella polycephala
Mortierella polycephala (Coemans 1863) is a soil fungus, type species of the genus Mortierella and family Mortierellaceae, first isolated from a mushroom, distinguished by stalked chlamydospores (stylospores) and a sequenced JGI genome (strain KOD 948).
Mortierellomycotina
Mortierellomycotina (Mortierellales, Mortierellaceae) is a fungal subphylum of soil saprobes established in 2011, defined by columella-less sporangia and distinct zygospores; Mortierella alpina industrially produces arachidonic acid.
Mucor
Mucor (pin mold genus) is a genus of fast-growing, coenocytic molds in Mucoraceae, order Mucorales, phylum Mucoromycota; saprobic, generally non-pathogenic, identified by ITS sequencing, with Mucor circinelloides as the best-studied species.
Mucorales
Mucorales (pin molds), an order of Mucoromycotina fungi with zygospores and sporangiospores; soil saprobes including Rhizopus, Mucor, and Lichtheimia, agents of mucormycosis.
Mucoromycotina
Mucoromycotina, a subphylum of Mucoromycota fungi (formerly zygomycetes), includes Mucorales, Endogonales, and Umbelopsidales; chitosan cell walls, columella, saprotrophs, liverwort symbionts, and mucormycosis agents.
Mycology
Mycology, from Greek mykes, is the branch of biology studying fungi: heterotrophic eukaryotes with chitinous walls. About 155,000 species described of an estimated 3 million or more; classified today in 19 phyla and 9 subkingdoms.
Mycorrhiza
Mycorrhiza: the mutualistic symbiosis between soil fungi and plant roots, in which fungi receive plant carbon and supply phosphorus and nitrogen. Covers AM and ECM types, 85% plant coverage, 407-million-year fossils, and the contested wood wide web.
Mycorrhizal inoculum and biofertilizer use
Mycorrhizal inoculum is living material of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, usually spores and colonized roots in a carrier, applied to crops and soils to improve nutrient uptake.
Mycorrhizal network
A mycorrhizal network, popularly called the Wood Wide Web, is an underground fungal web linking the roots of multiple plants, allowing nutrients and signals to move between them.
Nosema apis
Nosema apis, now Vairimorpha (=Nosema) apis, is a microsporidian gut parasite of the western honey bee causing winter nosemosis with dysentery; oval 6 × 3 μm spores, over 30 polar tube turns, diagnosed by microscopy and PCR.
Nosema ceranae
Nosema ceranae (now often Vairimorpha ceranae) is a microsporidian gut parasite of honey bees, described from Apis cerana in China in 1996, that jumped to Apis mellifera and is now the predominant Nosema species worldwide, with a 96-hour life cycle in midgut epithelial cells.
Ocular microsporidiosis
Ocular microsporidiosis is infection of the eye by microsporidia, spore-forming parasites, causing either superficial keratoconjunctivitis or deeper stromal keratitis; it occurs mostly with end-stage HIV but also in healthy people.
Pathogenesis of chytridiomycosis in amphibians
The pathogenesis of chytridiomycosis in amphibians is how the fungi Bd and Bsal invade keratinized skin cells; the superficial infection disrupts electrolyte transport, killing frogs by cardiac arrest.
Phycomyces
Phycomyces is a genus of filamentous zygomycete fungi in the order Mucorales, saprophytes of humid environments worldwide, best known for the laboratory species Phycomyces blakesleeanus and its sensitive responses to light, gravity, and nearby objects.
Physoderma
Physoderma is a genus of over 100 fungal plant parasites in the phylum Blastocladiomycota, whose species live inside host tissues; P. maydis causes brown spot and stalk rot of maize.
Pilobolus
Pilobolus (dung cannon, hat-thrower fungus) is a genus of mucoromycotan fungi, family Pilobolaceae, growing obligately on herbivore dung and shooting adhesive sporangia up to 2.5 m toward light; also disperses lungworm larvae.
Pneumocystis jirovecii
Pneumocystis jirovecii (formerly P. carinii) is a human lung fungus causing Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP/PJP) in immunocompromised people, mainly those with HIV and CD4 counts below 200 cells/mm3; diagnosed by microscopy, PCR, and beta-D-glucan.