Since the 1940s, fungi have been used for the production of antibiotics, and, more recently, various enzymes produced by fungi are used industrially and in detergents. Fungi are also used as biological pesticides to control weeds, plant diseases, and insect pests.
Fungus, any of about 144,000 known species of organisms of the kingdom Fungi, including yeasts, mildews, molds, and mushrooms. Fungi are some of the most widely distributed organisms on Earth and are of great environmental and medical importance.
Fungi (singular: fungus) are one of the kingdoms of life in biology, along with animals, plants, protists, bacteria, and archaebacteria. Examples of fungi include yeast, mushrooms, toadstools (poisonous mushrooms), and molds. The scientific study of fungi is called mycology.
What are Fungi? Fungi can be single celled or very complex multicellular organisms. They are found in just about any habitat but most live on the land, mainly in soil or plant material rather than sea or fresh water.
Fungi—neither plant nor animal—exist in a world of their own, a realm filled with filaments, spores, secret communication networks, and powerful enzymes capable of breaking down almost anything organic. They have shaped ecosystems, sustained civilizations, and even rewired our understanding of life itself.
Fungi are decomposing, fermenting, edible, toxic, carbon-sequestering, disease-causing, disease-curing, pollutant-busting, mind-bending, rain-generating, zombie-making marvels. They underpin almost all life onEarth,but are mostly situated underground andoftenoverlooked.
The kingdom Fungi includes an enormous variety of living organisms collectively referred to as Eucomycota, or true Fungi. While scientists have identified about 100,000 species of fungi, this is only a fraction of the 1.5 million species of fungus likely present on Earth.