Ecology and Genomics of Forest Fungi and Their Interactions 2.0

Dear Colleagues,

Our interest for this Special Issue stems from the fact that there have been very scanty literature reports on the impact of genomics and molecular biology on the mechanistic understanding of life styles of forest fungi and their interactions (pathogenic, saprotrophic, endophytic, mutualistic) with direct relevance to forest ecosystems. There are several reasons for the paucity of information on the mechanistic understanding of life styles and phenotypic plasticity on fungi associated with forest biome. An underlying factor is that the genomics and molecular ecology of forest fungi and their associated interactions have for a long time lagged behind parallel studies on microbes associated with agricultural crops or human health. The recent novel technological advances in -omics and bioinformatics have remarkably contributed to the perceived progress in this field. The field of fungal genomics is expanding rapidly, as new fungal genomes are currently being produced at an exponential rate. The availability of genome sequences of hundreds of fungal species occupying diverse ecological niches and representing various taxonomic groups provides unmatched opportunities for comparative genomics analysis. At the same time, the application of next-generation sequencing (NGS) and transcriptomics has facilitated the accumulation of an enormous amount of data on forest trees and soil microbiome, as well as their molecular interactions. Studies on communities of mycobiome colonizing different forest tree tissues (endophere, rhizosphere, phyllosphere) are also of interest.

Prof. Dr. Fred O. Asiegbu
Guest Editor

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• forest fungi
• tree–microbe interactions
• fungal genomics
• ecogenomics
• molecular pathobiology
• interspecific fungal interactions
• mycobiome
• comparative fungal genomics
• symbiosis
• biocontrol