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Though the interest of this review is not to take a deep dive into fungal systematics, phylogeny and identification, a brief discussion of these topics at the outset is necessary to put these fungi and their corresponding literature into context.
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We start by briefly discussing the initial discovery of Entomophthora fungi and history of its early research, then present currently accepted species, who they infect and where to find them. In revisiting what we have learned over the past century and a half in combination with recent developments providing new genomic and molecular insights, we hope to provide an accessible entry point for new researchers interested in these incredible fungi, as well as remind those in the field of important gaps in our knowledge and suggest ways to continue moving the field forward into the twenty-first century. This review aims to distill information that is dispersed over a variety of not-so-easily accessed sources (including books, folios and non-English sources) to provide a comprehensive overview of the biology of all known species within the genus Entomophthora. muscae isolate ‘Berkeley’ ), have exposed a new generation of scientists to these unique fungi and sparked renewed interest in their study. muscae, including genomic and transcriptomic analyses as well as the isolation of a strain that naturally infects the model organism Drosophila melanogaster (E. The first Entomophthora species was formally described in the mid-nineteenth century and these fungi are commonly observed around the world, yet details of their biology have remained mostly a mystery. The genus Entomophthora belongs to the early-diverging subphylum Entomophthoromycotina, Footnote 1 which includes fungi such as the genera Basidiobolus and Conidiobolus that can cause a wide range of infections and complications in invertebrates, cold-blooded animals and even humans. Species in the genus Entomophthora are fungal pathogens of a variety of insects, most of which elicit dramatic behavioral changes in their host for the invading fungus’ benefit. Finally, we propose six major directions for future Entomophthora research and in doing so hope to provide a foundation for future studies of these fungi and their interaction with insects. We argue that the high host-specificity and obligate life-style of most Entomophthora species provides ample scope for having been shaped by close coevolution with insects despite the current general lack of such evidence.
SPORE DARK INJECTION HAS COMPLEXITY FULL
However, we are only starting to understand the functions of unusual molecular and genomic characteristics, such as having large > 1 Gb genomes full of repetitive elements and potential functional diploidy. We discuss evidence for Entomophthora’s adaptation to growth exclusively inside insects, such as producing wall-less hyphal bodies and a unique set of subtilisin-like proteases to penetrate the insect cuticle. A detailed description of Entomophthora’s life-cycle and observed manipulated behaviors is provided and used to summarize a consensus for ideal growth conditions.
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Evidence for strain-level specificity of hosts is summarized and directly compared to phylogenies of Entomophthora and the class Insecta. Further, we argue that this genus is globally distributed, based on a compilation of Entomophthora records in the literature and in online naturalist databases, and likely to contain additional species. We briefly review the discovery of Entomophthora and provide a summary of the 21 recognized Entomophthora species, including their type hosts, methods of transmission (ejection of spores after or before host death), and for which molecular data are available. This review provides a comprehensive overview of our current understanding of the biology of Entomophthora fungi and enumerates the most pressing outstanding questions that should be addressed in the field. Despite having been first described more than 160 years ago, there are still many open questions about Entomophthora biology, including the molecular underpinnings of host behavior manipulation and host specificity.
SPORE DARK INJECTION HAS COMPLEXITY SERIES
muscae, which, like other Entomophthora species, elicits a series of dramatic behaviors in infected hosts to promote optimal spore dispersal. The most well-known among these is the “zombie fly” fungus E. The fungal genus Entomophthora consists of highly host-specific pathogens that cause deadly epizootics in their various insect hosts.