mycology (redirected from mycological)

mycology

Study of fungi (see fungus), including mushrooms and yeasts. Many fungi are useful in medicine and industry. Mycological research has led to the development of such antibiotic drugs as penicillin, streptomycin, and tetracycline. Mycology also has important applications in the dairy, wine, and baking industries and in the production of dyes and inks. Medical mycology is the study of fungus organisms that cause disease in humans.

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mycology

1. the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungi

2. the fungi of a particular region

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Mycology

The study of organisms classified under the kingdom Fungi. Common names for some of these organisms are mushrooms, boletes, bracket or shelf fungi, powdery mildew, bread molds, yeasts, puffballs, morels, stinkhorns, truffles, smuts, and rusts. Fungi are found in every ecological niche. Mycologists estimate that there are 1.5 million species of fungi, with only 70,000 species now described. Fungi typically have a filamentous-branched somatic structure surrounded by thick cell walls known as hyphae. The phyla considered to be true fungi are Chytridiomycota, Zygomycota, Ascomycota, and Basidiomycota. Other phyla that sometimes are included as true fungi are Myxomycota, Dictyosteliomycota, Acrasiomycota, and Plasmodiophoromycota. See Fungal biotechnology, Fungal ecology, Fungal genetics, Fungi, Medical mycology, Plant pathology