Magic mushrooms: Fungal Morphogenesis by D. Moore

Abstract

Cambridge University Press, 1998. £70.00 hbk (xiv + 469 pages)ISBN 0 521 55295 8Fungal Morphogenesis is a rare example of a single author book that covers a large and developing area. The author is an established authority on the developmental biology of mushrooms of higher fungi. This area is certainly the comfort zone of the book, and slightly over half of the text is devoted to it, despite the fact that it is a somewhat neglected area by developmental biologists. A lot of what is known about fruit body formation is descriptive, although a few well-characterized aspects of the biology of these organisms have been developed recently. For example, the analysis of mating type genes, gene expression in homokaryotic and dikaryotic mycelia and the role of hydrophobins in the development of aerial structures have all advanced considerably in recent years and are well covered here. The author also shows how growth of the basidiocarp is regulated so that the spore-bearing gills are presented in optimal alignment for efficient liberation of spores into the environment. Material is brought together from a range of sources and approaches to provide a useful overview of the present status of the field as a whole and to highlight hot topics for the future.As for the rest of the book, I must confess to being a little disappointed about what is left out. The recent strides forward in our understanding of the regulation and molecular events concerned with cell polarity and bud site selection and the interplay between cell cycle regulation and bud morphogenesis (all in yeast) are not mentioned. The regulation of pseudohyphal and hyphal growth in yeasts is covered in only a paragraph, and recent molecular genetic analyses of hyphal growth, septum formation and branching in Aspergillus are barely touched on. These studies have pushed fungal morphogenesis to the forefront of developmental biology and have been reported in the most prestigious journals. To my mind, they are of profound importance to our appreciation of, for example, hyphal tip growth, branch formation and clamp connections in all fungi and, as such, I would have expected them to have been a major part of the book. Perhaps the omission of these key areas is the result of the strong focus on basidiomycete development. The book also has a whole chapter devoted to metabolism and biochemistry, with figures showing all the major metabolic pathways. Fine, but these pathways are generally common to most life forms and cannot be seen as essential to the theme of the book.Perhaps it was a tall order to get the broad coverage that I anticipated from the title. I can see this book being highly recommended for those working on, or wanting to know more about, the morphogenesis of higher fungi. However, those of a molecular genetic bent who are interested in a wider diversity of model fungal systems or the general molecular mechanisms underlying morphogenesis will feel less well served.