Fungalpedia – Note 1243, Fungicolous fungi
Fungicolous fungi
Fungicolous fungi are a widespread group of organisms that belongs to many ecological categories found in both, terrestrial and aquatic habitats (Jeffries 1995, Gams et al. 2004, Sun et al. 2019a). They are consistently having associations between different lineages across the fungal kingdom as mycoparasites, saprotrophs or neutrals (Gams et al. 2004, Põldmaa 2011, Lin et al. 2016, Sun et al. 2019a). Krings et al (2011) reported the first convincing fossil evidence for mycoparasitism in sporocarps.
There are many important aspects of fungicolous fungi. They detoxify the substrates which are not otherwise accessible for decomposition while playing an important role in ecosystems for nutrient recycling (Gams et al. 2004, Maurice et al. 2021). Provide clues for screening potential biocontrol agents applicable against destructive fungal plant pathogens, serve as resources for discovering antifungal and anticancer drugs in the biomedicine industry (Vinale et al. 2008, Mukherjee et al. 2013). Some fungicolous fungi (Naematelia aurantialba and Tremella spp.) themselves are food sources whereas, the lobster mushrooms formed after the infection of Hypomyces lactifluorum on mushrooms such as Lactifluus piperatu (milk-caps) and Russula brevipes (brittlegills) are consumed as delicious food (Bandoni and Zang 1990, Bandoni and Boekhout 2011, Laperriere et al. 2018 ). Some fungicolous species are pathogenic on mushrooms and they cause diseases on cultivable mushrooms resulting quality and quantity losses which leads to economic losses in commercial mushroom cultivation and also indirectly affect food security (Sun et al. 2019b).
References
Bandoni RJ, Boekhout T. 2011 – Tremella Persoon (1794). In The Yeasts (pp. 1567-1590). Elsevier.
Bandoni RJ, Zang M. 1990 – On an undescribed Tremella from China. Mycologia, 82(2), 270-273.