Human interactions with fungi

Culture consists of the social behaviour and norms found in human societies and transmitted through social learning. Cultural universals in all human societies include expressive forms like art, music, dance, ritual, religion, and technologies like tool usage, cooking, shelter, and clothing. The concept of material culture covers physical expressions such as technology, architecture and art, whereas immaterial culture includes principles of social organization, mythology, philosophy, literature, and science.{{cite book |title=Sociology |last1=Macionis |first1=John J. |last2=Gerber |first2=Linda Marie |date=2011 |publisher=Pearson Prentice Hall |isbn=978-0137001613 |page=53 |oclc = 652430995}} This article describes the roles played by fungi in human culture.

File:Výroba chleba (29).JPG dough leavened with yeast]]

{{main|Fermentation|Yeast|Enzyme}}

Yeasts have been used since ancient times to leaven bread and to ferment beer and wine.{{cite journal |vauthors=Legras JL, Merdinoglu D, Cornuet JM, Karst F |title=Bread, beer and wine: Saccharomyces cerevisiae diversity reflects human history |journal=Molecular Ecology |volume=16 |issue=10 |pages=2091–2102 |year=2007 |doi=10.1111/j.1365-294X.2007.03266.x |pmid=17498234|bibcode=2007MolEc..16.2091L |s2cid=13157807 }} More recently, fungi have been used for a wide variety of industrial fermentations, whether working directly for their effects on materials such as processing paper pulp or bioremediating industrial waste, or serving as the source of enzymes for many purposes, such as fading and softening denim for fashionable blue jeans. Fungi yield a wide variety of industrial enzymes including amylases, invertases, cellulases and hemicellulases, pectinases, proteases, laccases, phytases, alpha-glucuronidases, mannanases, and lipases.{{cite book |last1=De Lourdes|first1=Maria |last2=Polizeli |first2=T. M. |last3=Rai |first3=Mahendra |title=Fungal Enzymes |date=2013 |publisher=CRC Press |isbn=978-1-4665-9454-8 |url=https://www.crcpress.com/Fungal-Enzymes/Polizeli-Rai/p/book/9781466594548}}

File:Steinpilz 2006 08 3.jpg mushrooms collected from the wild]]

{{main|Edible mushroom|Fermentation in food processing}}

The fruiting bodies of many larger fungi such as the chanterelle and the cep are collected as edible mushrooms.{{cite journal |vauthors=Hall IR, Lyon AJ, Wang Y, Sinclair L |year=1998 |title=Ectomycorrhizal fungi with edible fruiting bodies 2. Boletus edulis |journal=Economic Botany |volume=52 |issue=1 |pages=44–56 |doi=10.1007/BF02861294|s2cid=20934023 }}{{cite book |author=Persson O. |title=The Chanterelle Book |publisher=Ten Speed Press |location=Berkeley, California |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-89815-947-9}}

Some, such as truffles, are esteemed as costly delicacies.{{cite book | last = Brillat-Savarin | first = Jean Anthelme | author-link = Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin | title = Physiologie du goût | year = 1838 | orig-year = 1825 | publisher = Charpentier | location = Paris | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=SgkPAAAAQAAJ&pg=PP7 }} [http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/b/b85p/part11.html English translation] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080706020126/http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/b/b85p/part11.html |date=2008-07-06 }} A few species such as Agaricus bisporus and oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus spp.) are cultivated.{{cite web |url=ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/011/i0522e/i0522e00.pdf |title=Making Money by growing Mushrooms |publisher=Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations |access-date=18 July 2016 }}{{Dead link|date=January 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

File:Tempeh tempe.jpg, savoury Javanese fermented soybean cakes.]]

Mould fungi are the source of the meaty (umami) flavour of the soybean products tempeh, miso and soy sauce. Tempeh has been produced in Java since the 13th century.{{cite web | title=Sejarah Tempe| author=Hendri F. Isnaeni | date=9 July 2014| publisher=Historia |url=http://historia.id/kuliner/sejarah-tempe | language=id | access-date= 16 December 2016}} Like tofu, it is made into protein-rich blocks, but these have a firm texture and earthy flavour, since (unlike tofu) the whole beans are retained, providing a higher content of dietary fibre and vitamins.{{cite book |last=Dragonwagon |first=Crescent |title=Passionate Vegetarian |year=2002 |publisher=Workman Publishing |isbn=978-1-563-05711-3 |page=639 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xY-g93zG698C&pg=PA639 |author2=Gourley, Robbin}} Miso too is rich in protein, vitamins and minerals. It is fermented from a mixture of soybeans and cereals, forming a soft paste used to flavour soups and other Japanese dishes.{{cite book |title=Industrialization of indigenous fermented foods |date=1989 |publisher=M. Dekker |isbn=978-0824780746 |location=New York |pages=99–112 |editor=Steinkraus, Keith H.}} Soy sauce has been used in China since the 2nd century AD, and is now widespread in Asia. Like miso, it is made by fermenting a mixture of soybeans and cereals with moulds such as Aspergillus oryzae.Leboffe, Michael; Pierce, Burton. Microbiology Laboratory Theory and Application. Morton. 2nd edition, p.317. {{ISBN|978-0-895-82947-4}}

The mould Penicillium roqueforti contributes the blue coloration and much of the flavour in blue cheeses such as Roquefort and Stilton.{{cite journal |author1=Kinsella, J.E. |author2=Hwang, D.H. |title=Enzymes of Penicillium roqueforti involved in the biosynthesis of cheese flavour |journal=Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr|volume=8 |issue=2 |pages=191–228 |date=November 1976 |pmid=21770 |doi= 10.1080/10408397609527222}} Mould fungi are processed to produce vegetarian meat substitutes such as Quorn.

{{Main|Mushroom dye}}

Fungi are used as natural dyes. The mushrooms are crushed and placed in a non-reactive pot to simmer for as long as desired or until you achieve a desired depth of color. Mushrooms that can be used without a mordant (metallic salts) are called "substantive dyes", but in order to improve color and light fastness a mordant can be used. Protein fibers, like wool and silk, quickly take the dye, but cotton, hemp and some synthetic fibers can be used too.{{Cite web|title=History and Art of Mushroom Dyes for Color - North American Mycological Association|url=https://namyco.org/history_mushrooms_for_color.php|website=namyco.org|access-date=2020-05-18}}

File:Penicillin bioreactor.jpg bioreactor, from 1957]]

{{main|Medicinal fungi}}

Fungi are the sources of many types of medicinal drug including antibiotics, immunosuppressants, and statins. Major classes of antibiotics, the penicillins and the cephalosporins, are derived from substances produced by fungi. So also are the immunosuppressant macrolides, the cyclosporins.{{cite web |title=The importance of fungi |url=http://www.kew.org/science-conservation/plants-fungi/fungi/importance |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens Kew |access-date=4 November 2016}}

The cholesterol-lowering drugs, the statins, were initially produced by fungi including Penicillium. The first commercial statin, lovastatin, was fermented by the mould Aspergillus terreus.{{cite journal | last1=Tolbert | first1=Jonathan A. | year=2003 | title=Lovastatin and beyond: the history of the HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors | journal=Nature Reviews Drug Discovery | volume=2 | issue=7| pages=517–526 | doi=10.1038/nrd1112 | pmid=12815379 | s2cid=3344720 }}{{cite journal | pmid=23118499 | doi=10.1155/2012/196264 | pmc=3478940 | year=2012 | last1=Jahromi | first1=M. F | title=Lovastatin production by Aspergillus terreus using agro-biomass as substrate in solid state fermentation | journal=Journal of Biomedicine & Biotechnology | volume=2012 | pages=1–11 | last2=Liang | first2=J. B | last3=Ho | first3=Y. W | last4=Mohamad | first4=R | last5=Goh | first5=Y. M | last6=Shokryazdan | first6=P | doi-access=free }}

Numerous anti-cancer drugs such as the mitotic inhibitors vinblastine, vincristine, podophyllotoxin, griseofulvin, aurantiamine, oxaline, and neoxaline are produced by fungi.{{cite journal |author1=Nicoletti, Rosaria |author2=Ciavatta, Maria Letizia |author3=Buommino, Elisabetta |author4=Tufano, Maria Antonietta |title=Antitumor extrolites produced by Penicillium species |journal=International Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences |date=2008 |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=1–23 |url=http://www.globalsciencebooks.info/JournalsSup/images/0806/IJBPS_2%281%291-23o.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141226222055/http://globalsciencebooks.info/JournalsSup/images/0806/IJBPS_2(1)1-23o.pdf |archive-date=26 December 2014}}{{cite journal |url=http://www.globalsciencebooks.info/JournalsSup/images/0806/IJBPS_2%281%291-23o.pdf |title=Antitumor extrolites produced by Penicillium species |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141226222055/http://globalsciencebooks.info/JournalsSup/images/0806/IJBPS_2(1)1-23o.pdf |archive-date=26 December 2014 }}

{{further|Folk medicine}}

Many fungi have been used as folk medicines around the world, including in Europe and in India where traditions are well documented. Some have been found to have useful active ingredients, though these do not always correspond with traditional uses of the fungi concerned. Ergot and various cereal smuts, such as Ustilago tritici (wheat grain smut) were used for disorders of pregnancy. Yeasts, made into a boiled paste with wheat flour, were used in India to treat fevers and dysentery. Wounds were treated in Europe with moulds, using for example a slice of mouldy bread or mouldy wheat straw, with active ingredients patulin and other penicillin-like compounds.{{cite journal |last1=Vaidya |first1=J. G. |last2=Rabba |first2=A. S. |title=Fungi in Folk Medicine |journal=Mycologist|date=August 1993 |volume=7 |issue=3 |pages=131–133 |doi=10.1016/S0269-915X(09)80073-6}} In East Africa, pre-colonial practice of craniotomy involved the use of fungi to prevent the onset of sepsis.{{cite journal |last1=Vaidya |first1=Pieter |last2=van den Hombergh|title=Craniotomy;a much-alive tradition with the Kisii (Kenya) |journal=Ned Tijdschr Geneeskd|date= 24 December 1994|volume=138 |issue=52 |pages=2621–5 |pmid=7808537 }}

File:Laboratoorne pagaripärm (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) agariplaadil..JPG. This "frogging" assay compares the viability of different yeast mutants.]]

{{further|Saccharomyces cerevisiae#In biological research}}

The yeast species Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been an important model organism in modern cell biology for much of the twentieth century, and is one of the most thoroughly researched eukaryotic microorganisms.{{cite journal |vauthors=Ostergaard S, Olsson L, Nielsen J |title=Metabolic Engineering of Saccharomyces cerevisiae |journal=Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews |volume=64 |issue=1 |pages=34–50 |year=2000 |pmid=10704473 |doi=10.1128/MMBR.64.1.34-50.2000 |pmc=98985}} It was the first eukaryote whose genome was sequenced. In the twenty-first century, the filamentous mould Aspergillus has been adopted for genome studies.{{cite book |editor= Machida, M. |editor2=Gomi, K. | year=2010 |title=Aspergillus: Molecular Biology and Genomics | publisher=Caister Academic Press | isbn=978-1-904455-53-0}}

{{further|Mycelium-based materials}}

{{#ifeq:{{{transcludesection|As biomaterial}}}|As biomaterial|Fungi have been used a biomaterial since many centuries, for example as fungus-based textiles. An early example of such "mycotextiles" comes from the early 20th century: a wall pocket originating from the Tlingit, an Indigenous Population from the Pacific Northwest (US) and displayed as historical artefact at the Dartmouth College's Hood Museum of Art, turned out to be made of mycelium from the tree-decaying agarikon fungus.Cypress Hansen, [https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/century-old-textiles-woven-from-fascinating-fungus/ Century-Old Textiles Woven from Fascinating Fungus], Scientific American, June 2021. Fungal mycelia are used as leather-like material (also known as pleather, artificial leather, or synthetic leather), including for high-end fashion design products.Matthew Kronsberg, [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-19/mushrooms-make-case-for-most-viable-alternative-to-cowhide-leather|Mushroom Leather May Be Most Viable Vegan Alternative to Cowhide], Bloomberg, July 2022.

Beside their use in clothing, fungus-based biomaterials are used in packaging and construction.{{Cite journal|last=Meyer|first=V|date=2022|title=Connecting materials sciences with fungal biology: a sea of possibilities|journal=Fungal Biology and Biotechnology|language=en|volume=9|issue=1|pages=13|doi=10.1186/s40694-022-00137-8|pmid=35232493|issn=2054-3085|pmc=8889637|doi-access=free}} There are several advantages and potentials of using fungus-based materials rather than commonly used ones. These include the smaller environmental impact compared with the use of animal products; vertical farming, able to decrease land use; the thread-like growth of mycelium, able to be molded into desirable shapes; use of growth substrate derived from agricultural wastes and the recycling of mycelium within the principles of circular economy; and mycelium as self-repairing structures.Federica Maccotta, [https://www.wired.it/article/le-case-del-futuro-saranno-fatte-di-funghi/ Le case del futuro? Saranno fatte di funghi], Wired Italy, August 2022.Eben Bayer, [https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/the-mycelium-revolution-is-upon-us/ The Mycelium Revolution Is upon Us], Scientific American, July 2019.Frank Tavares, [https://www.nasa.gov/feature/ames/myco-architecture/ Could Future Homes on the Moon and Mars Be Made of Fungi?], nasa.gov, Jan 2020.}}

A patent study covering 2009-2018 highlighted the current patent landscape around mycelial materials based on patents filed or pending. In 2018, 47 patents involving fungal materials in packaging, textile, leather, automotive, thermal insulation or as fire protection material were filed. In 2018, most patents are filed in the U.S. (28 patents), followed by China (14 patents) and the rest in other countries (5 patents). Most fungi used are basidiomycetes including species such as Agrocybe aegerita, Coprinus comatus, Pleurotus ostreatus, and Lentinula edodes (in the order Agaricales) and Fomes fomentarius, Ganoderma lucidum, and Trametes versicolor (in the order Polyporales); and only a few are ascomycetes, mainly species in the order Xylaria.{{Cite journal|last1=Cerimi|first1=K|last2=Akkaya|first2=KC|last3=Pohl|first3=C|last4=Schmidt |first4=B|last5=Neubauer |first5=N|date=2019|title=Fungi as source for new bio-based materials: a patent review|journal=Fungal Biology and Biotechnology|language=en|volume=6|pages=13|doi=10.1186/s40694-019-0080-y|pmid=31673396|issn=2054-3085|pmc=6814964|doi-access=free}}

File:CSIRO ScienceImage 1367 Locusts attacked by the fungus Metarhizium.jpg, an environmentally friendly means of biological control. CSIRO, 2005{{cite web|title=CSIRO ScienceImage 1367 Locusts attacked by the fungus Metarhizium |url=http://www.scienceimage.csiro.au/image/1367 |publisher=CSIRO|access-date=1 April 2015}}]]

{{further|Entomopathogenic fungi#Pest control}}

Entomopathogenic fungi infect and kill insects, including a variety of pest species, so they have been investigated as possible biological control agents. A variety of Ascomycetes, including Beauveria, Lecanicillium, Metarhizium, and Paecilomyces have promising features for use as biological insecticides.{{cite journal|vauthors=Strasser H, Vey A, Butt TM|first3=Tariq|title=Are There any Risks in Using Entomopathogenic Fungi for Pest Control, with Particular Reference to the Bioactive Metabolites of Metarhizium, Tolypocladium and Beauveria species?|journal=Biocontrol Science and Technology |date=28 June 2010|volume=10|issue=6|pages=717–735|doi=10.1080/09583150020011690|s2cid=83558063}} Metarhizium in particular can help to control outbreaks of locusts.{{cite journal |author1=Lomer, C.J. |author2=Bateman, R.P. |author3=Johnson, D.L. |author4=Langewald, J. |author5=Thomas, M. | year=2001 | title=Biological Control of Locusts and Grasshoppers| journal=Annual Review of Entomology | volume=46 | pages=667–702 | doi=10.1146/annurev.ento.46.1.667 | pmid=11112183|s2cid=7267727 }}

File:Psilocybe semilanceata 6514.jpg is gathered for its psychoactive effects.]]

{{main|Ethnomycology}}

Some species such as the fly agaric and psilocybin mushrooms are used for the psychoactive drugs that they contain.{{Cite journal |author=Guzmán G. |title=Hallucinogenic mushrooms in Mexico: An overview |journal=Economic Botany |year=2008 |volume=62 |issue=3 |pages=404–412 |doi=10.1007/s12231-008-9033-8|s2cid=22085876 }} These are the focus of academic study and intense debate in the field of ethnomycology. In the 1950s, the American banker Robert Gordon Wasson participated in a Mazatec psilocybin mushroom ritual, and wrote an influential but controversial book claiming that the Soma mentioned in the Rigveda was Amanita muscaria, the fly agaric.{{efn|Michael Hoffman wrote: Wasson neglects to address the relevant question of whether the tree of life at the end of the Bible meant Amanita mushrooms. He asserts that the tree of life in Genesis meant Amanita, while implying that the tree of life in Revelation did not mean Amanita – an unlikely combination of ideas, which he fails to address and justify.}}In 1970, the philologist John Allegro destroyed his career by claiming that the fly agaric was the main focus of worship in the more esoteric sects of Sumerian religion, Judaism and early Christianity.{{cite book | author=Wasson, R. Gordon | author-link=R. Gordon Wasson | title=Soma: Divine Mushroom of Immortality | year=1968 | publisher=Harcourt Brace Jovanovich | isbn=978-0-15-683800-9}}{{cite book | last=Allegro | first=John | author-link=John Allegro | title=The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross: The Study of the Nature and Origins of Christianity Within Fertility Cults of the Ancient Near East | publisher=Hodder & Stoughton | year=1970 | isbn=978-0-340-12875-6 | page=320 }}{{cite web |last1=Hoffman |first1=Michael |title=Wasson and Allegro on the Tree of Knowledge as Amanita |url=http://www.egodeath.com/wassonedentree.htm |access-date=4 November 2016 |date=2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070814053612/http://egodeath.com/WassonEdenTree.htm |archive-date=14 August 2007 }} The mycologist John Ramsbottom however confirmed one element that Allegro later wove into his theory, stating in 1953 that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil fresco{{efn|The Plaincourault Chapel fresco of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil has been photographed in detail on [https://www.flickr.com/photos/samorini/sets/72157621958973449 Flickr by Giorgio Samorini].}} in the Plaincourault Chapel depicted Amanita muscaria.{{efn|Ramsbottom wrote: "The Fly-Agaric is one of the easiest fungi to recognise and to describe. Consequently its poisonous properties were early known ... In a fresco in a ruined chapel at Plaincourault (Indre, France), dating from 1291, a branched specimen is painted to represent the tree of good and evil (Pl. Ib, pg. 34). Presumably it was the artist's conception of the essence of evil made more terrible by enlargement and proliferation. The serpent is shown winding round the stem, offering the traditional apple to Eve, who, apparently having eaten of the 'tree', is shown in an attitude which suggests that she is 'suffering from colic rather than from shame'."}}{{cite book |last1=Ramsbottom |first1=John |title=Mushrooms & Toadstools |date=1953 |publisher=Collins New Naturalist |page=46}}

The ergot fungi whose sclerotia appear as "black grain" in rye and other cereals are implicated in the witch trials of 17th century Norway, where the hallucinations caused by ergotism, with visions of Satan as a black dog or cat, caused people to be accused of witchcraft. People in other cultures such as the Aztecs brewed drinks with ergot, which contains alkaloids based on lysergic acid.{{cite journal |author=Alm, T. |date=2003 |title=The Witch Trials of Finmark, Northern Norway, During the 17th Century: Evidence for Ergotism as a Contributing Factor |journal=Economic Botany |volume=57 |issue=3 |pages=403–416 |doi=10.1663/0013-0001(2003)057[0403:twtofn]2.0.co;2|s2cid=21821738 }}{{cite web |title=Ethnomycology |url=https://www.uea.ac.uk/biological-sciences/engagement/fascinating-fungi/ethnomycology |publisher=University of East Anglia |access-date=4 November 2016}}

{{further|Mushrooms in art|Fungi in Art}}

{{multiple image

| width1 = 260

| image1 = Paolo Porpora - Still-Life with Fungi - WGA18169.jpg

| caption1 = Still-Life with Fungi by Paolo Porpora

| width2 = 120

| image2 = Guercino Fruttivendola.jpg

| caption2 = The Greengrocer by Guercino

}}

Fungi have had an enormous influence in the arts since centuries. Fungi appeared from time to time in literature, both for children and for adults. In Lewis Carroll's 1865 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Alice grows larger if she eats one side of the mushroom, and shrinks if she eats from the other side. Shakespeare has Prospero remark in The Tempest that elves "make midnight mushrooms". Poems and novels about or mentioning fungi have been written by Edmund Spenser, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Keats, Tennyson, Arthur Conan Doyle, D. H. Lawrence, and Emily Dickinson.{{cite web |title=Fungal Folklore |url=http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/sgc-cms/expositions-exhibitions/champignons-mushrooms/English/Folklore/art.html |publisher=Virtual Museum of Canada |access-date=14 September 2018 |date=2003 |archive-date=8 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108063312/http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/sgc-cms/expositions-exhibitions/champignons-mushrooms/English/Folklore/art.html |url-status=dead }} Tennyson referred to the fairy ring mushroom (Marasmius) with the phrase "the fairy footings on the grass".{{cite news |last1=Farell |first1=Aimee |title=Magic mushrooms: fashion's favourite food |url=https://www.ft.com/content/8a215ca0-49fb-11e8-8c77-ff51caedcde6 |access-date=14 September 2018 |work=Financial Times |date=25 May 2018}}

Fungi sometimes feature in works of art,{{cite web |title=Registry of Mushrooms in Works of Art |url=http://www.namyco.org/art_registry.php |publisher=North American Mycological Association |access-date=14 September 2018}} such as by Paolo Porpora in the late 17th century.{{cite web |title=Registry of Mushrooms in Works of Art {{!}} Works attributed to Paolo Porpora |url=https://www.namyco.org/paolo_porpora.php |publisher=North American Mycological Association |access-date=14 September 2018}} The children's author Beatrix Potter painted hundreds of accurate watercolour illustrations of fungi.{{cite web |last1=Fleming |first1=Nic |title=Beatrix Potter: Pioneering scientist or passionate amateur? |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/earth/story/20160215-beatrix-potter-pioneering-scientist-or-passionate-amateur |publisher=British Broadcasting Corporation |access-date=14 September 2018 |date=15 February 2016}} More recently, artists such as Martin Belou, Helen Downie (alias "Unskilled Worker"), and Steffen Dam have created installations and paintings of mushrooms.

File:Braeburn-rotten.jpg type fungal rot]]

{{further|Food spoilage}}

Fungi, especially moulds but also yeasts, are important agents of food spoilage.

Penicillium moulds cause soft rot such as of apples, while Aspergillus moulds create patches on the surface of old bread, yoghurt and many other foods. Yeasts spoil sugary foods such as plums and jams, fermenting the sugars to alcohol.{{cite book |last1=Pitt |first1=John I. |last2=Hocking |first2=Ailsa D.|title=Fungi and Food Spoilage |date=2009 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-0-387-92206-5 |pages=169–273 (Penicillium); 275–337 (Aspergillus); 357–382 (Yeasts)}} Scientific understanding of spoilage began in the 19th century with works such as Louis Pasteur's 1879 Studies on Fermentation, which investigated the spoilage of beer.Pasteur, Louis (1879) Studies on fermentation: The diseases of beer, their causes, and the means of preventing them. Macmillan.

{{main|Wood-decay fungi}}

Saprotrophic wood-decay fungi are the primary cause of decomposition of wood, causing billions of dollars of economic damage each year.{{cite web |title=Microorganisms causing decay in trees and wood |url=http://forestpathology.cfans.umn.edu/microbes.htm |publisher=University of Minnesota |access-date=16 December 2016 |archive-date=20 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200220185049/http://forestpathology.cfans.umn.edu/microbes.htm |url-status=dead }} Fungal decay, while useful in composting, is destructive of timber exposed to the weather, and in the case of dry rot caused by Serpula lacrymans, also of timbers in largely dry houses.{{cite web |last1=Carey |first1=Janice |last2=Grant |first2=Colin |title=The Treatment of Dry Rot in Historic Buildings |url=http://www.buildingconservation.com/articles/rot/rot.htm |publisher=Building Conservation |access-date=16 December 2016 |archive-date=3 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190503070012/http://www.buildingconservation.com/articles/rot/rot.htm |url-status=dead }} Some wood-decay fungi such as the honey fungi, species of Armillaria, are parasites of living trees, attacking their roots and eventually killing them, and continuing to decompose the wood when they are dead. Honey fungus is a serious horticultural pest, as it can spread from tree to tree by long strap-shaped rhizomorphs in the soil.{{cite web|title=Honey fungus |url=https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=180 |publisher=Royal Horticultural Society |access-date=16 December 2016}}

File:Skibbereen by James Mahony, 1847.JPG of 1845–1849, caused by potato blight. Skibbereen engraving by James Mahony, 1847]]

{{further|Plant pathology#Fungi}}

Fungi are important crop pathogens, as they reproduce rapidly, affect a wide range of crops around the world, cause some 85% of plant diseases, and can create serious economic losses.{{cite web|title=Fungal Diseases|url=http://ausveg.com.au/intranet/technical-insights/cropprotection/fungal-diseases.htm|publisher=AusVeg|access-date=16 December 2016|archive-date=20 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220180755/http://ausveg.com.au/intranet/technical-insights/cropprotection/fungal-diseases.htm|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|last1=Isleib |first1=Jim |title=Signs and symptoms of plant disease: Is it fungal, viral or bacterial? |url=http://msue.anr.msu.edu/news/signs_and_symptoms_of_plant_disease_is_it_fungal_viral_or_bacterial |publisher=Michigan State University |access-date=16 December 2016 |date=19 December 2012}} The range of types of fungi involved is also wide, including Ascomycetes such as Fusarium causing wilt, Basidiomycetes such as Ustilago causing smutsSchumann G. L., D'Arcy C. J,. 2006. Essential Plant Pathology. The American Phytopathological Society. St. Paul. pp. 28–29. and Puccinia causing cereal rusts,{{Cite book |last=Singh |first=Ravi P. |author2=Hodson, David |author3=Huerta-Espino, Julio |author4=Jin, Yue |author5=Njau, Peter |author6=Wanyera, Ruth |author7=Herrera-Foessel, Sybil and Ward, Richard W. |title=Will Stem Rust Destroy The World's Wheat Crop? |journal=Advances in Agronomy |year=2008 |volume=98 |pages=272–309 |doi=10.1016/S0065-2113(08)00205-8 |url=https://naldc-legacy.nal.usda.gov/naldc/download.xhtml?id=36520&content=PDF |isbn=9780123743558 |access-date=2018-12-29 |archive-date=2020-11-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108063602/https://naldc-legacy.nal.usda.gov/naldc/download.xhtml?id=36520&content=PDF |url-status=dead }} and Oomycetes such as Phytophthora causing potato late blight and the resulting Great Irish Famine of 1845–1849.{{Cite journal | doi=10.1111/J.1364-3703.2008.00500.X| title=Phytophthora ramorum: A pathogen with a remarkably wide host range causing sudden oak death on oaks and ramorum blight on woody ornamentals| journal=Molecular Plant Pathology| volume=9| issue=6| pages=729–40| year=2008| last1=Grünwald | first1=N. J. | last2=Goss | first2=E. M. | last3=Press | first3=C. M. | pmid=19019002| pmc=6640315}} Where crop diversity is low, and in particular where single varieties of major crops are nearly universal, fungal diseases can cause the loss of an entire crop, as with the potato in Ireland, and as with the monocultured crop of maize (corn) in the US in 1970, where over a billion dollars' worth of production was lost.{{cite web |last=Muir |first=Patricia |title=Why does genetic diversity within and among crops matter? |url=http://people.oregonstate.edu/~muirp/cropdiv.htm |access-date=September 30, 2013}} Similarly, the 'Gros Michel' seedless banana crop was essentially completely destroyed worldwide in the 1950s by the wild fungus, Fusarium oxysporum.{{cite web |url=http://www.apsnet.org/publications/apsnetfeatures/Pages/PanamaDiseasePart1.aspx |title=Panama Disease: An Old Nemesis Rears Its Ugly Head Part 1: The Beginnings of the Banana Export Trades |website=apsnet.org |access-date=2016-12-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160416220116/http://www.apsnet.org/publications/apsnetfeatures/Pages/PanamaDiseasePart1.aspx |archive-date=2016-04-16 |url-status=dead }} It was replaced by the Cavendish banana, which in turn was in 2015 facing total destruction by the same disease.{{cite news |last1=Tola |first1=Elisabetta |title=Banana variety risks wipeout from deadly fungus wilt |url=https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/jan/21/banana-deadly-fungus-wilt-fao-cavendish-fusarium |access-date=14 June 2016 |agency=The Guardian |date=21 January 2015}}

{{main|Pathogenic fungus}}

Pathogenic fungi cause a variety of diseases in humans and livestock. Aspergillosis, most commonly caused by Aspergillus fumigatus, kills some 600,000 people per year, mostly those with already weakened immune systems.{{cite journal |vauthors=Guinea J, Torres-Narbona M, Gijón P, Muñoz P, Pozo F, Peláez T, de Miguel J, Bouza E|title=Pulmonary aspergillosis in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: incidence, risk factors, and outcome |journal=Clin Microbiol Infect|date=June 2010 |volume=16 |issue=7 |pages=870–7 |doi=10.1111/j.1469-0691.2009.03015.x |pmid=19906275 |doi-access=free }} Pneumocystis causes pneumonia, again mainly in people with weakened immune systems.{{cite book |author=Hughes WT |chapter=Pneumocystis Carinii |title=Barron's Medical Microbiology|editor=Barron S| edition = 4th | publisher = University of Texas Medical Branch | year=1996 |chapter-url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bv.fcgi?rid=mmed.section.4516 | isbn = 978-0-9631172-1-2 |display-editors=etal}} Candida yeasts are the agents of Candidiasis, causing infections of the mouth, throat, and genital tract, and more seriously of the blood. Ringworm is a skin infection that infects some 20% of the human population; it is caused by some 40 different fungi.{{cite web|title=Types of Fungal Diseases|url=https://www.cdc.gov/fungal/diseases/|publisher=Centres of Disease Control|access-date=16 December 2016|date=2 December 2014}}

{{notelist}}

{{reflist|30em}}

01

Category:Biology and culture

Category:Topics in culture