Anaerobic fungi (phylum Neocallimastigomycota): advances in understanding their taxonomy, life cycle, ecology, role and biotechnological potential

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• the efficient dispersal of anaerobic fungi between hosts, presumably via the formation of aerotolerant survival structures.

• A website has also been created to allow for researchers to use the secondary structure prediction approach used by Koetschan et al. (2014) to incorporate new ITS1 sequences from anaerobic fungi into this classification scheme

• cellulosomes

• adaptations of anaerobic fungi

• inhabit the gastrointestinal tract of mammalian herbivores

• naerobic

• degradation of plant material.

• earliest diverging lineage of the zoosporic fungi;

• in need of revision

• recent evidence suggests the presence of several novel taxa (potential candidate genera) that remain to be characterised

• Greater understanding of the ‘resistant’ phase(s) of their life cycle is needed, as is study of their role and significance in other herbivores.

• ighly active cellulolytic and hemi-cellulolytic enzymes

• omics based (genomic, transcriptomic and proteomic) approaches is starting to yield valuable insights into the unique cellular processes, evolutionary history, metabolic capabilities and adaptations that exist within the Neocallimastigomycota.

• Mammalian herbivores do not produce cellulolytic or hemi-cellulolytic enzymes to degrade ingested plant material;

• anaerobic fungi are known to be key players in the degradation of lignocellulosic plant fibre in the rumen

• were originally classified as protozoa

• flagellates’ represented the dispersal phase of a zoosporic fungus

• long-held belief that all fungi were obligate aerobes.

• the cell wall of these organisms contained chitin, confirming their correct placement in kingdom fungi

• novel mechanisms that enable these fungi to live in the absence of oxygen.