New family of fungi threatens a UNESCO-listed 8-century-old cathedral in Portugal

Pensoft Editorial Team

Tagged Aeminiaceae, biodeterioration, biodiversity, black fungi, corrosion, cultural heritage, deterioration, fungi, fungus, monuments, mycology, new fungus, new species, new to science, Old Cathedral of Coimbra, Portugal, sooty mould fungi, taxonomy, UNESCOLeave a comment

January 28, 2019

To be listed as UNESCO World Heritage requires special care and protection of valuable cultural monuments and pieces of Art from threats such as biodeterioration caused by microcolonial black fungi. The culprits lodge their branch-like structures (hyphae) deep into the stone forming fissures and cracks and also produce polysaccharides that trigger corrosion. These fungi are well known […]

Top 50 most wanted fungi: New search function zooms in on the dark fungal diversity

Pensoft Editorial Team

Tagged 50 most wanted fungi, bioidiversity, DNA sequence, fungal diversity, fungi, fungus, mycology, taxonomy, UNITE databaseLeave a comment

March 21, 2016

There are many millions of undescribed fungi, and public DNA sequence databases contain thousands of fungal sequences that cannot be assigned to any known fungal group with confidence. Many of these sequences have defied robust taxonomic assignment for more than 10 years. Frustrated at this situation, an international group of researchers presents a search functionin […]