Book Review pubs.acs.org/jnp
Review of Fungi: Biology and Applications There are eight pages of good-quality color photographs and diagrams in a central section of the book. The target audience includes undergraduates (each chapter finishes with examples of potential exam questions) taking their first university level mycology course, and this reviewer would expand the audience to include others requiring a detailed introduction to the many facets of modern mycology. In conclusion, even with the multiple cases of overlap of discussions (only a few have been highlighted) this is a commendable and worthwhile book, and this reviewer is happy to include it in our own mycology library, where it replaces the first edition.
Fungi: Biology and Applications, second edition. Edited by K. Kavanagh (National University of Ireland Maynooth). WileyBlackwell, Chichester. 2011. x + 366 pp. $149.95 (e-book version $99.95). ISBN 978-0-470-97709-5.
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his student mycology text includes contributions from well-known scientists covering a wide range of traditional and contemporary topics addressing mycology from the point of view of both biologists and chemists and is a fine example of a detailed, high-level introduction to the field. This is the second edition of a book first published in 2005, containing additional material covering important contemporary areas. Basic topics include fungal physiology and classical and molecular genetics, as well as genomics and proteomics. The applications of fungi as sources of small molecules and for the production of proteins and fermentation science are discussed in stand-alone chapters. The last third of the book addresses fungal infections of humans and plants, and there is a chapter on antifungal agents used for human medicine. The first edition of this book was useful and well written and contained contributions from a number of established mycologists. In one of the new chapters, Fungal Genomics, information is presented addressing genome sequencing, bioinformatics tools, comparative genomics, the fungal tree of life, and, finally, online fungal genomic resources. There is some overlap with the subsequent chapter, Fungal Genetics: A PostGenomic Perspective, which has been updated in this edition to include the most recent sequencing successes. Even so, there are some noticeable differences in these chapters; for example, in the former there are 102 fungal genomes listed as being sequenced, whereas in the subsequent chapter there are only 19 reported as having been sequenced. Given the rate at which the field is developing, by the time this review is published neither will be correct, and hopefully this type of dichotomy will drive students to find the correct number themselves, which is exactly as it should be in an ideal world. The section on industrial and pharmaceutical applications of fungi and their products has been expanded, and there are four chapters in this edition addressing the practical importance of fungi, covering fermentation systems, low molecular weight metabolites such as antibiotics and other chemicals, and the use of fungi to produce enzymes and as expression systems for other large molecules such as hepatitis B vaccine. There is considerable duplication of subject matter; for example, discussions on enzymes and fermentation approaches are mixed throughout these chapters. In itself this is not a critical issue, except that, with a little more focus, additional material could have been included. A nice addition is the section on socalled Endophytic Compounds, including a discussion of the paclitaxel-producing fungus Taxomyces andreanae, and subsequent studies on other secondary metabolite-producing endophytic fungi. There is a chapter on Fungal Proteomics, which covers the basics of proteomics methods and applications in an easy to follow style. © XXXX American Chemical Society and American Society of Pharmacognosy
Cedric Pearce
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Mycosynthetix, Inc. Hillsborough, North Carolina
AUTHOR INFORMATION
Notes
The author declares no competing financial interest.
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dx.doi.org/10.1021/np3008073 | J. Nat. Prod. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX
