New angles in mycology: studies in directional growth and directional motility

Abstract

Mycology is changing as an era of extensive genome sequencing comes of age and provides vital information that enables questions to be addressed about fungi in all the major taxonomic groups. As technology transfer facilitates what was once only possible for a very small number of model species, it becomes possible to explore the biology and biodiversity of fungi as a whole. The availability of genome sequence information and reverse genetic technologies allows hypotheses that emerge from biological observations to be tested. Genomic and post-genomic technologies will underline the importance of fungi as excellent models for the study of fundamental biological phenomena. Two enduring areas of research in my own laboratory are described that are now being extended using post-genomic approaches. These projects relate to how fungal hyphae extend and guide their tips and secondly how plant pathogenic oomycete zoospores are guided on their journey to the plant surface.