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Life
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New Developments in Mycology
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New Developments in Mycology

A special issue of Life (ISSN 2075-1729). This special issue belongs to the section "Microbiology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 28 April 2026 | Viewed by 897

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Saul de la Peña-Lastra

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Ecology Section, Faculty of Biology, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Interests: mycology; soil sciences; ecology; seabirds; biodiversity; botany and climate change

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue of the journal Life is dedicated to exploring the latest advancements in mycology, focusing on new discoveries of fungal species, reviews of genera, and studies highlighting the ecological importance of fungi. Fungi are essential components of ecosystems, playing crucial roles in the decomposition of organic matter, soil formation, and interactions with plants through symbiosis, such as mycorrhizae.

Recent reviews suggest several emerging trends in fungal diversity, population genetics, and phylogeography. Molecular markers, especially those based on DNA sequences from multiple loci, reveal significant cryptic genetic diversity within many ‘known’ fungal species, indicating the presence of multiple divergent lineages that are largely reproductively isolated in nature. In addition, there is strong evidence of sexual recombination in the species examined, reflecting the important roles played by sexual spores in natural populations. Geographic separation has also been identified as a significant factor in structuring populations and lineages in fungi, although the relative effects of geographic separation on population structure and phylogeography may vary considerably among species.

We aim to contribute to the understanding of fungal diversity and their functionality across various habitats, from forests to aquatic environments. This Special Issue seeks to highlight research addressing the taxonomy, ecology, and biology of fungi, as well as their biotechnological potential in areas such as bioremediation and the production of bioactive compounds.

We invite researchers to submit original articles, reviews, and brief communications that address these topics. The goal is to foster knowledge exchange that encourages new collaborations and approaches in the study of fungi, emphasizing their relevance to ecosystem sustainability.

Manuscripts can be submitted through our platform, and authors are encouraged to follow the submission guidelines available on our website.

Dr. Saul de la Peña-Lastra
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Life is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • fungal diversity
  • population genetics
  • phylogeography
  • mycorrhizae
  • biotechnology

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

18 pages, 2389 KB  
Article
Multigene Identification of a Giant Wild Strain of Ganoderma mutabile (ZHM1939) and Screening of Its Culture Substrates
by Huiming Zhou, Longqian Bao, Zeqin Peng, Yuying Bai, Qiqian Su, Longfeng Yu, Chunlian Ma, Jun He and Wanzhong Tan
Life 2025, 15(9), 1475; https://doi.org/10.3390/life15091475 - 19 Sep 2025
Viewed by 476
Abstract
In the present study, a new Ganoderma sp. (ZHM1939) was collected from Lincang, Yunnan, China, and described on the basis of morphological characters and multigene phylogenetic analysis of rDNA-ITS, TEF1α and RPB2 sequences. This fungus is characterized by the exceptionally large basidiomata, [...] Read more.
In the present study, a new Ganoderma sp. (ZHM1939) was collected from Lincang, Yunnan, China, and described on the basis of morphological characters and multigene phylogenetic analysis of rDNA-ITS, TEF1α and RPB2 sequences. This fungus is characterized by the exceptionally large basidiomata, oval shape, a pileus measuring 63.86 cm long, 52.35 cm wide, and 21.63 cm thick, and a fresh weight of 80.51 kg. The skeleton hyphae from the basidiocarp are grayish to grayish-red in color, septate, and 1.41–2.75 μm in diameter, with frequently dichotomous branched and broadly ellipsoid basidiospores. The basidiospores are monocellular, ellipsoid, with round ends or one slightly pointed end, brown–gray in color, and measured 6.52–10.26 μm × 4.68–7.17 μm (n = 30). When cultured for 9 days at 25 ± 2 °C on PDA, the colony was white, ellipsoid or oval, with slightly ragged edges, measured Φ58.26 ± 3.05 mm (n = 5), and the growth rate = 6.47 mm/day; prosperous blast-spores formed after culturing for 21 days, making the colony surface powdery-white. The mycelia were septate, hyaline, branching at near-right angles, measured Φ1.28–3.32 μm (n = 30), and had some connections. The blast-spores were one-celled, elliptic or barley-seed shaped, and measured 6.52–10.26 μm × 4.68–7.17 μm (n = 30). Its rDNA-ITS, TEF1α and RPB2 sequences amplified through PCR were 602 bp, 550 bp and 729 bp, respectively. Blast-n comparison with these sequences showed that ZHM1939 was 99.67–100% identical to related strains of Ganoderma mutabile. A maximum likelihood phylogenic tree using the concatenated sequence of rDNA-ITS, TEF1α and RPB2 was constructed and it showed that ZHM1939 clustered on the same terminal branch of the phylogenic tree with the strains Cui1718 and YUAN 2289 of G. mutabile (Bootstrap support = 100%). ZHM1939 could grow on all the 15 original inoculum substrates tested, among which the best growth was shown on substrate 2 (cornmeal 40 g, sucrose 10 g, agar 20 g), with the fastest colony growth rate (6.79 mm/day). Of the five propagation substrates tested, substrate 1 (wheat grains 500 g, gypsum powder 6.5 g and calcium carbonate 2 g) resulted in the highest mycelium growth rate (7.78 mm/day). Among the six cultivation substrates tested, ZHM1939 grew best in substrate 2 (cottonseed hulls 75 g, rice bran 12 g, tree leaves 5 g, cornmeal 5 g, lime powder 1 g, sucrose 1 g and red soil 1 g) with a mycelium growth rate of 7.64 mm/day. In conclusion, ZHM1939 was identified as Ganoderma mutabile, which is a huge mushroom and rare medicinal macrofungus resource. The original inoculum substrate 9, propagation substrate 1 and cultivation substrate 2 were the most optimal substrates for producing the original propagation and cultivation inocula of this macrofungus. This is the first report on successful growing conditions for mycelial production, but basidiocarp production could not be achieved. The results of the present work establish a scientific foundation for further studies, resource protection and application development of G. mutabile. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Developments in Mycology)
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