Fungal Genomics

Fungal genomics has immensely contributed to the science of medical mycology, including taxonomy, epidemiology, pathogenesis, and diagnosis, in the past few decades. The fungal genomic databases are increasing exponentially with advancements in molecular mycology. The application of genomics in fungal taxonomy has revolutionized the fungal nomenclature with the revision of multiple species names. The fungal taxonomy based on the genotypic approach resulted in the evolution of fungal molecular epidemiology. Fungal genomics in the study of fungal pathogenesis helps in understanding the host–pathogen interaction dynamics, i.e., host susceptibility and fungal virulence. The molecular diagnostic methods, due to their high sensitivity and specificity, are being increasingly used in the diagnosis of fungal infections. Currently, multiple commercial molecular assays are available for the identification of pathogenic fungi in a clinical setting worldwide. These genomics-proteomics-based molecular methods have the advantage of handling a high volume of clinical specimens with less turnaround time.