La mycologie au début du 21èmesiècle : crise et renouveau

Abstract

Although they are key players in the biosphere and have important roles in human industry, agriculture and health, fungi are largely understudied and, more disturbingly, often underrepresented in biology classes at all levels. Nevertheless, it is most likely that mycology will soon undergo a renewal of interest. Firstly, because fungi are becoming more prominent in human concerns, as their impact on human, animal and ecosystem health are increasing, animal and plant biologists become more aware of their importance. Moreover, mycologists have organized to make their discipline more visible and to enable large scale scientific projects, such as the global analyses of fungal phylogeny and of their genome structure, function and evolution. This, combined with the next generation of sequencing technologies, now permits an in depth and global understanding on how fungi are organized and how they function. It also enables the development of strategies that will help to fight fungi when they negatively interfere with human concerns, as in human mycosis, or to use them in industries such as in renewable energy usage.