Impact of genomics on fungal biology

Fungi represent an extremely diverse and complex class of organisms, and their categorization as lower eukaryotes should by no means be mistaken as meaning low-end. At present, fungi serve as model systems for various aspects of molecular and cellular biology, for example cell cycle regulation, intracellular signaling, metabolic pathway analysis and transcriptional regulation (Feldbrügge et al., 2004; Jiang, 2006; Oliver, 2006). They are also increasingly used on an industrial scale in the production of chemical compounds or in bioremediation (Grimm et al., 2005; Tortella et al., 2005). Some of the most recent and exciting advances within the field of fungal biology have been linked with genomic studies. To explore these, the IXth International Fungal Biology Conference & 16th New Phytologist Symposium entitled Impact of Genomics in Fungal Biology was held in Nancy, France (http://www.newphytologist. org/fungal-genomics/default.htm). The meeting brought together nearly 100 scientists, from all areas of fungal research, and highlighted a wide range of impacts that genome sequencing has and will have on our understanding of fungal biology