Based on sequence analyses of many different genes, the past decade has provided us with a profound knowledge of fungal systematics and phylogeny. In addition, a number of sequences of complete fungal genomes have been identified and several others will soon follow. In this volume, leading experts address questions concerning the origin of the fungal kingdom and fungal evolution at a level of analytical refinement that has never been possible before. The following major aspects are highlighted: evolutionary roots of fungi; evolution of signaling in fungi and fungal-like organisms; evolution of mutualistic systems and metabolism in fungi; and evolutionary mechanisms and trends.

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The Protistan Origins of Animals and Fungi.- Microsporidia -- Highly Reduced and Derived Relatives of Fungi.- Environmental DNA Analysis and the Expansion of the Fungal Tree of Life.- Evolution of Signalling and Morphogenesis in the Dictyostelids.- Function and Evolution of Pheromones and Pheromone Receptors in Filamentous Ascomycetes.- Mating Type in Basidiomycetes: Unipolar, Bipolar, and Tetrapolar Patterns of Sexuality.- Evolution of the 'Plant-Symbiotic' Fungal Phylum, Glomeromycota.- Fruiting Body Evolution in the Ascomycota: a Molecular Perspective Integrating Lichenized and Non-Lichenized Groups.- Genomic and Comparative Analysis of the Class Dothideomycetes.- Evolution of Genes for Secondary Metabolism in Fungi.- Carbonic Anhydrases in Fungi and Fungal-Like Organisms -- Functional Distribution and Evolution of a Gene Family.- Evolution of Mating-Type Loci and Mating-Type Chromosomes in Model Species of Filamentous Ascomycetes.- Evolution of Special Metabolism in Fungi: Concepts, Mechanisms, and Pathways.