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Saccharomycotina include some of the economically most important fungi known. Members include species of industrial and agricultural importance (e.g. brewing, baking, fermentation of food products, production of citric acid, production of recombinant proteins, biofuel production, biological pest control of crops).
According to one 2008 estimate, the Hymenochaetales contain around 600 species worldwide, [1] mostly corticioid fungi and poroid fungi, but also including several clavarioid fungi and agarics. Species of economic importance include wood decay fungi in the genera Phellinus and Inonotus sensu lato, some of which may cause losses in forestry.
The English word fungus is directly adopted from the Latin fungus (mushroom), used in the writings of Horace and Pliny. [10] This in turn is derived from the Greek word sphongos (σφόγγος 'sponge'), which refers to the macroscopic structures and morphology of mushrooms and molds; [11] the root is also used in other languages, such as the German Schwamm ('sponge') and Schimmel ('mold').
Those of economic importance include several important pathogens of trees and a few species that cause damage by rotting structural timber. Some of the Polyporales are commercially cultivated and marketed for use as food items or in traditional Chinese medicine .
Of economic importance is Physoderma maydis, a parasite of maize and the causal agent of brown spot disease. [5] Also of importance are the species of Urophlyctis that parasitize alfalfa . [ 8 ] However, ecologically, Physoderma are important parasites of many aquatic and marsh angiosperms . [ 4 ]
A fraction of the many fungi consumed by humans are currently cultivated and sold commercially. Commercial cultivation is important ecologically, as there have been concerns of the depletion of larger fungi such as chanterelles in Europe, possibly because the group has grown popular, yet remains a challenge to cultivate.
The Cantharellaceae are a family of fungi in the order Cantharellales.The family contains the chanterelles and related species, a group of fungi that superficially resemble agarics (gilled mushrooms) but have smooth, wrinkled, or gill-like hymenophores (spore-bearing undersurfaces).
Fungi have appeared, too, from time to time, in literature and art. Fungi create harm by spoiling food, destroying timber, and by causing diseases of crops, livestock, and humans. Fungi, mainly moulds like Penicillium and Aspergillus, spoil many stored foods. Fungi cause the majority of plant diseases, which in turn cause serious economic losses.