The Mycota. A Comprehensive Treatise on Fungi as Experimental Systems for Basic and Applied Research: Volume 6: A. A. Brakhage and P. F. Zipfel: Human and Animal Relationships. 3rd rev.ed. 2024. illus. 275 p. 4to. Hardcover.

Estimates based on sequencing data suggest that there are around 5.1 million species of fungi. Yet only a small number of fungi are harmful to animals, including humans. In addition to host-pathogen interactions, there are also mutualistic interactions between fungi and animals. Diseases caused by pathogenic fungi range from allergic reactions and superficial infections to invasive mycoses, and have a significant impact on human and animal life. Fungi are also cultivated by animals as a food source in highly developed relationships or are even involved in gut mutualism.

This 3rd edition of Volume 6 of The Mycota highlights exemplary interactions between fungal pathogens and their host(s). The book is organized in three parts:

Part 1 summarizes our current understanding of important pathogenic fungi such as Candida species, Malassezia yeasts, Aspergillus fumigatus and fungi of the order Mucorales.

Part 2 addresses the characterization of the host response towards pathogenic fungi. It focuses on RNA as a mediator of host-pathogen interactions, the human gut mycobiome, the role of the innate immune system in fighting infections, pattern recognition receptors involved in fungal infections, and a summary of established infection models for studying host-fungal-pathogen interactions.

Part 3 provides insights into the impact transcriptomics and proteomics technologies have on the research of human-pathogenic fungi.