CRC Press Fungi: Multifaceted Microbes

Product Description 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. Review "… many of the chapters are by established authorities and so provide important reviews of the current state of our knowledge in those fields. Consequently, I learned a great deal from it, and can commend it as value to both lecturers preparing courses, and students working on essays on particular aspects of mycology." – David L. Hawksworth in British Mycological Society in 2007   "The book is well edited and may be useful for everyone interested in any aspect of fungal biochemistry or biotechnology." – A. Gniazdowska, Warsaw in Acta Physiol Plant in 2008