Fungal genomics and pathogenicity

The filamentous fungal genetics community has enthusiastically embraced the utilization of genomics technologies to resolve long-standing issues in fu ngal biology. For example, such technologies have been proposed to study th e mechanics of tip growth, photoreception, gene silencing, the molecular ba sis of conidiation, the pathway leading to sexual reproduction, and mechani sms of pathogenesis. These studies have provided a refreshing change of pac e in research on filamentous fungi, which has lagged behind that on other e ukaryotes in the exploitation of genome-wide methodologies. Despite the lat e start, several fungal genome sequencing projects are underway. The result ing databases will allow the comprehensive analysis of developmental proces ses that are characteristic of fungi, including the molecular nature of pat hogenicity. DNA databases underpin analyses of the fungal transcriptome, pr oteome, and metabolome. This combined information will contribute to our ba sic understanding of not only the mechanics of infection but also the evolu tion of pathogenicity.