Main description:

The people have been using fungi since ancient times. On one hand fungi are responsible for causing plant and human diseases, while on the other hand they are beneficial to human kind. There have been tremendous biotechnological advancement in the field of fungi in the last two decades. Various applications of the fungi include drugs, dyes, single-cell protein and growth promoters. Advancement in the field of molecular biology, proteomics and genomics have unravelled various doubts and provided new insights in the field of genetic improvement, transformations and phyllogenetic relationship of different genera and species. Fungi are not only involved in production of single-cell protein, wine and beer production and antioxidants but also used for bioremediation, growth promotion, as biosensors and fabrication of ceo-friendly silver and gold nanoparticles. Some ofthese issues have been addressed in the present book. The present boot is aimed to provide the readers with current trends in the field of Mycology in general and fungal biotechnology in particular.
The book would be of utmost importance to students, researchers and teachers of botany, mycology, microbiology, medical microbiology, fungal biotechnology and nanotechnology. The readers should find the book full of information and reader friendly. We are thankful to all the contributors for submission of their valuable manuscripts. MKR wishes to thank his students- Ravindra Ade, Avinash Ingle, Dnyaneshwar Rathod, Alka Yadav, Vaibhav Tiwari, Jayendra Kesharwani and Swapnil Gaikwad for help in editing and typesetting.

Contents:

Preface.- 1.Better Yeast for Better Wine - Genetic Improvement of Saccharomyces cerevisiae Wine Strains; Dorit Schuller.- 2.Genetics and Genomics of Aspergillus flavus;Jiujiang Yu, William C. Nierman, Joan W. Bennett, Thomas E. Cleveland, Deepak Bhatnagar, Bruce C. Campbell, Ralph A. Dean, and Gary Payne.- 3.Genetic Transformation of Zygomycetes Fungi; Tamas Papp, Arpad Csernetics, Ildiko Nyilasi, Marianna Abrok, Csaba Vagvoelgyi.- 4.Current Advances in Aspergillosis; Amparo Sole.- 5.Fungal Infections of The Central Nervous System; Salwa Shabbir Sheikhand Samir Sami Amr.- 6. Otomycosis in Turkey:A Review; Muge Ozcan.- 7.Current Trends in Fungal Sinusitis; Ahmed Ragab.-8.Biodiversity of Filamentous Fungi on Soils and Sands; E. Azevedo, D. Figueir, M.F. Caeiro and M. Barata.-9.Role of Mycorrhizal Fungi in Growth Promotion of Crop Plants; Sarika Shende and Mahendra Rai.-10.Ectomycorrhizal Symbiosis: Possibilities and Prospects; Kamal Prasad.- 11.Higher Basidiomycetes Mushrooms as a Source of Antioxidants; Mikheil D. Asatiani,Vladimir Elisashvili, George Songulashvili and Solomon P. Wasser.-12.The Contribution of Wild Fungi to Diet, Income and Health: A World Review; Miriam de Roman.-13.Mercury in Certain Mushroom Species in Poland; Jerzy Falandysz.-14.Alcohol Oxidase Enzyme of Methylotrophic Yeasts as a Basis of Biosensors for Detection of Lower Aliphatic Alcohols; Anatoly N. Reshetilov, Tatyana A Reshetilova and Anna E.Kitova.-15. Chitin Metabolism In Fungi; Neetu Dahiya.-16.Fungi-mediated synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles: Characterization Processes and Applications; Nelson Duran, Priscyla D.Marcato,,Avinash Ingle, Aniket Gade and Mahendra Rai