Since publication of the first edition of Volume I in 1994, the field of fungal biology has developed tremendously, mainly through the advancement of various molecular techniques and international fungal genome projects. To accommodate these developments, the second edition has been completely updated. Six chapters have been revised by former authors, others by newly recruited experts, and also novel subjects, emerged in more recent years, have been added to the book.Leading scientists in the field have compiled comprehensive overviews as well as latest results obtained from cytological, genetic and molecular studies. Topics include: cellular and colony growth of fungi, cellular fusion and incompatibility, senescence and programmed cell death, environmental and physiological signalling in differentiation processes, asexual and sexual reproduction, mitosis and meiosis of various types of fungi. Both parallels and differences become visible between individual fungi as well as between fungal classes.

Vegetative processes and growth 1 Fungal cell typesK.J. Boyce and A. Andrianapoulous 2 Organelle inheritance in budding yeast and other fungiL.J. García-Rodríguez, A.C. Gay, and L.A. Pon 3 Mitosis in filamentous fungiS. Harris 4 Apical wall biogenesisJ.H. Sietsma and J.G.H. Wessels 5 The fungal cell wallJ.P. Latgé and R. Calderone 6 Septation and cytokinesis in fungiJ. Wendland and A. Walther 7 Re-wiring the network: understanding the mechanism and function of anastomosis in filamentous ascomycete fungiN. L. Glass and A. Fleißner 8 Heterogenic incompatibility in fungiK. Esser 9 Programmed cell death in fungiB.C.-K. Lu 10 Senescence and longevityH.D. Osiewacz and A. Hamann Signals in growth and development 11Autoregulatory signals in mycelial fungiU. Ugalde 12 Pheromone action in the fungal groups Chytridiomycota, and Zygomycota, and in the OomycotaC. Schimek and J. Wöstemeyer 13 Photomorphogenesis and gravitropismL. Corrochano and P. Galland Reproductive Processes 14 Asexual sporulation in mycelial fungiR. Fischer and U. Kües 15 Regulation of sexual development in filamentous ascomycetes (Mating types, pheromones)R. Debuchy and G. Turgeon 16 Fruiting body development in ascomycetesS. Pöggeler, M. Nowrousian, and U. Kück 17 Mating type genes of the basidiomycetesL.A. Casselton and M.P. Challen 18 Regulatory and structural networks, orchestrating mating, dimorphism, cell shape, and pathogenesis in UstilagoM. Feldbrügge, M. Bölker, G. Steinberg, J. Kämper, and R. Kahmann 19 The emergence of fruiting bodies in basidiomyctesH.A.B. Wösten and J.G.H. Wessels 20 Meiosis in mycelial fungiD. Zickler Biosystematic IndexSubject Index