727 articles
Ophiocordyceps sinensis
Ophiocordyceps sinensis (syn. Cordyceps sinensis; 冬虫夏草, Yartsa Gunbu), the caterpillar fungus, an entomopathogenic Himalayan fungus parasitizing Thitarodes moth larvae at 3000–5000 m; prized in Tibetan and Chinese medicine, critically endangered, and one of the world's most valuable biological commodities.
Ophiocordyceps unilateralis
Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, the zombie-ant fungus (basionym Torrubia unilateralis), is an entomopathogenic ascomycete in Ophiocordycipitaceae that infects carpenter ants, manipulates them into a death grip, and represents a large host-specific species complex; it never infects mammals.
Ophiostoma
Ophiostoma, genus of ascomycete fungi in the Ophiostomatales with long-necked perithecia and insect-dispersed spores; type species O. piliferum; includes Dutch elm disease pathogens O. ulmi and O. novo-ulmi; distinct from Ceratocystis (Microascales).
Orellani
Orellani: a subgenus of the webcap genus Cortinarius, type species Cortinarius orellanus (fool's webcap), defined by containing the nephrotoxin orellanine; includes deadly webcap C. rubellus and causes delayed acute kidney failure.
Orellanine
Orellanine, also called the orellanic syndrome toxin, is a nephrotoxic bipyridine N-oxide mycotoxin from Cortinarius webcap mushrooms, causing delayed acute kidney injury 1-2 weeks after ingestion, with no antidote and supportive dialysis treatment.
Outline of lichens
Outline of lichens: symbiotic fungus-alga or fungus-cyanobacterium associations forming a thallus; about 20,000 species, crustose/foliose/fruticose forms, Schwendener's 1868 dual hypothesis, basidiomycete yeasts, bioindicators, and modern ecosystem redefinition.
Paecilomyces
Paecilomyces is a Eurotiales mold genus (Bainier 1907, type P. variotii) once broadly defined; after molecular reclassification its clinical species became Purpureocillium lilacinum and entomopathogens moved to Isaria.
Panaeolus cinctulus
Panaeolus cinctulus, the banded mottlegill, formerly Panaeolus subbalteatus, is a psilocybin-containing small brown mushroom of the genus Panaeolus, family Galeropsidaceae, growing on dung and manured grassland worldwide, with jet black spores.
Panaeolus cyanescens
Panaeolus cyanescens (Copelandia cyanescens), a blue-bruising dung mushroom of the tropics and subtropics, one of the most potent psilocybin-producing Panaeolus species, with jet black spore print, mottled gills, and hygrophanous cracking cap.
Paracoccidioides
Paracoccidioides: thermally dimorphic fungal genus causing paracoccidioidomycosis, endemic from Mexico to Argentina; includes P. brasiliensis complex, P. lutzii, and uncultivable P. ceti and P. lobogeorgii.
Parietin
Parietin (physcion) is an orange anthraquinone lichen pigment, the cortical sunscreen of Xanthoria parietina, absorbing UV-B and blue light, induced by UV-B, and studied for astrobiology and antifungal photodynamic uses.
Parmelia sulcata
Parmelia sulcata, netted or hammered shield lichen (Taylor 1836), a common foliose Parmeliaceae lichen with net-like white pseudocyphellae, used widely as a heavy-metal air-pollution biomonitor and source of salazinic acid.
Parmeliaceae
Parmeliaceae, the shield lichen family (Zenker, 1827), is the largest family of lichen-forming fungi, with about 2,700-2,800 species in 77-79 genera including Parmelia, Usnea, and Xanthoparmelia; monophyletic, widely used as air-pollution bioindicators.
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.
Patulin
Patulin (PAT), a polar lactone mycotoxin from Penicillium, Aspergillus, and Byssochlamys molds, contaminates apples and apple juice; regulated at 50 µg/kg by FDA and Codex, with JECFA PMTDI 0.4 µg/kg bw.
Paul Stamets
Paul Stamets, American mycologist, author, and founder of Fungi Perfecti (1980) and Host Defense Mushrooms; wrote The Mushroom Cultivator and Mycelium Running, won NAMA and AAAS honors, and has a Star Trek character named for him.
Peltigera britannica
Peltigera britannica, the Pictish Dogtooth or flaky freckle pelt, is a tripartite foliose lichen (fungus, Coccomyxa, Nostoc) elevated from P. aphthosa in 1983, recognized by peltate detachable cephalodia and an oceanic British distribution.
Penicillium
Penicillium, a Eurotiales fungus genus with broom-like conidiophores, source of penicillin; 598 accepted species (2025), food spoilage agent producing patulin and ochratoxin A, identified by polyphasic DNA-based taxonomy.
Penicillium camemberti
Penicillium camemberti (syn. P. candidum) is the domesticated white mold ripening Camembert and Brie rinds, derived from P. biforme and wild P. fuscoglaucum; most strains produce the mycotoxin cyclopiazonic acid, more at 25 °C than refrigeration.
Penicillium chrysogenum
Penicillium chrysogenum, an indoor and food mould once famed as the penicillin producer; key strains, including Fleming's, are now reclassified as Penicillium rubens, distinguished by secalonic acids.
Penicillium commune
Penicillium commune (Thom 1910) is a green-conidial mold in series Camembertiorum, the leading cheese spoilage fungus and wild ancestor of P. camemberti, also persisting in bakery environments.
Penicillium digitatum
Penicillium digitatum (green mold fungus) is the major necrotrophic postharvest pathogen of citrus, causing ~90% of postharvest losses; treated with TBZ, imazalil, fludioxonil, and antagonistic yeasts, with resistance via ABC/MFS efflux pumps.
Penicillium expansum
Penicillium expansum (blue mold fungus) is a necrotrophic postharvest pathogen of apples and pears, main producer of the mycotoxin patulin; genome 31–35 Mbp with a complete 15-gene patulin cluster.
Penicillium genetics and genomics
Penicillium genetics and genomics covers Penicillium rubens, formerly P. chrysogenum, the fungus behind industrial penicillin production, whose 32.19 Mb, four-chromosome genome was among the first fungal genomes of an industrial producer sequenced.
Penicillium roqueforti
Penicillium roqueforti, the blue-cheese mold used for Roquefort, Gorgonzola, Stilton, and Danablue; also a food spoilage fungus with domesticated cheese populations, Wallaby and CheesyTer horizontal gene transfers, and metabolites like roquefortine C and PR-toxin.
Penicillium spinulosum
Penicillium spinulosum (Thom 1910) is an ascomycete mold in Aspergillaceae, a common indoor and soil fungus with monoverticillate penicilli and spinulose conidia, synonyms P. terlikowskii, P. abeanum, P. citreovirens.
Penicillium verrucosum
Penicillium verrucosum (Dierckx, 1901) is a cool-temperate Penicillium mold that contaminates stored cereals with ochratoxin A and citrinin; grows at water activity down to 0.80 and 0–31 °C, controlled by drying grain below 17% moisture and cooling below 5 °C.
Peniophoraceae
Peniophoraceae, also called the Peniophora family, is a family of corticioid crust fungi in Russulales (Basidiomycota), typified by Peniophora Cooke 1879; wood-decaying white-rot resupinate fungi with gloeocystidia, lamprocystidia, and inamyloid spores, including bark beetle mutualist Entomocorticium.
Pergolide
Pergolide is an ergot-derived dopamine receptor agonist developed for Parkinson's disease, withdrawn from human markets over cardiac valve damage and now used mainly in veterinary medicine to treat equine Cushing's disease.
Pestalotiopsis
Pestalotiopsis (Steyaert, 1949) is a genus of ascomycete fungi in Sporocadaceae, Xylariales, occurring as plant pathogens causing tip blight, endophytes, and saprobes, defined by 5-celled conidia with appendages and known for novel secondary metabolites including taxol.