Fungi : Multifaceted Microbes

Ubiquitous in nature, fungi have, for centuries, provided us with a variety of useful products from cheese to alcoholic beverages, organic acids, pigments, enzymes, food and lately antibiotics and small molecular weight compounds with a variety of pharmacological applications. Highlighting the crucial role fungi play in many ecological processes, Fungi: Multifaceted Microbes explores a wide range of topics in fungal biochemistry and biotechnology. The book's sweeping coverage explores the wide range of features that give fungi their multifaceted properties. Topics explored include fungal biochemistry and biotechnology and targets for drug discovery, classical and molecular taxonomy, evolutionary aspects, secondary metabolites from marine resources, applications as mycoinsecticides and immunodiagnostics, to name just a few. The book also contains a chapter on the emerging area of fungi in nanoparticle synthesis. Given the enormous scope and dimensions of this subject, it is difficult for any single book to address every aspect of fungal biochemistry and biotechnology. The editors, each an expert in his own right, draw on articles from as wide a spectrum of international scientists as possible to provide a highly authoritative survey of the literature.