Progress in Mycology: Biology and Biotechnological Applications

Indian mycologists have extensively studied various groups of fungi such as soil fungi, aquatic fungi, marine fungi, endophytic fungi, fungi associated with man and animals. Though several books on various aspects of fungi are published, this is the first account of the history and development in mycology in India. This book is the second volume of the two-volume book "Progress in Mycology: An Indian Perspective".

While volume 1 contains the historical aspects, taxonomy and information about the various groups of fungi, this volume focuses majorly on the biotechnological applications of the different groups of fungi. It discusses topics such as the extremophilic fungi, the history and development in Candida research, progress of mycotoxin research in India etc. It provides a detailed account of the various enzymes and bio-active molecules derived from fungi. India shows a very high biodiversity of fungi, and this book discusses these different group of fungi and their industrial and biotechnological applications.

This book is useful to students, teachers and researchers in botany, microbiology, biotechnology and life sciences, agriculture and industries using fungi to produce various valuable products.

Prof. T. Satyanarayana has been Professor Emeritus at the Division of Biological Sciences & Engineering, Netaji Subhas University of Technology, New Delhi after superannuating from the University of Delhi in June 2016. He has over 280 scientific papers and reviews, 11 books and 3 patents to his credit. He is a fellow of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS), Academy of Microbiological Sciences (AMSc), Biotech Research Society (I) [BRSI], Mycological Society of India (MSI) and Telengana Academy of Sciences. He is a recipient of Dr. Manjrekar award of AMI, Dr. Agnihotrudu Memorial award of MSI and Malaviya Memorial award of BRSI for his significant contributions. He mentored 30 scholars for Ph.D., and was president of AMI and MSI. He successfully completed 17 major research projects sanctioned by various Govt. agencies. His research efforts have been focused on microbial diversity and enzymes, metagenomics, carbon sequestration and bioethanol production from lignocellulosics.

Dr. Sunil Kumar Deshmukh received his Ph.D. in Mycology from Dr. H.S. Gour University, Sagar (M.P.) in 1983. A veteran industrial mycologist who spent a substantial part of his career at Hoechst Marion Roussel Limited [now Sanofi India Ltd.], Mumbai and Piramal Enterprises Limited, Mumbai in drug discovery. He has to his credit 8 patents, 125 publications and12 books on various aspects of Fungi and natural products of microbial origin. He was the president of the Mycological Society of India (MSI). He is a fellow of MSI, the Association of Biotechnology and Pharmacy, the Society for Applied Biotechnology and the Maharashtra Academy of Sciences. He was the Fellow at Nano-Biotechnology Centre, TERI, New Delhi, and Adjunct Associate Professor in Deakin University, Australia till Jan. 2019 who had been working on the development of natural food colours, antioxidants and biostimulants through nanotechnology intervention.

Dr. Mukund V. Deshpande obtained his PhD in 1982 in Biochemistry and D.Sc. in Microbiology of the University of Pune in 1994. He has been working extensively on the use of fungi and fungal products in Biotechnology. Dr. Deshpande successfully completed more than 35 research projects funded by national and international funding agencies like Indo-Swiss Collaboration in Biotechnology (ISCB) for development of mycoinsecticide, Indo-Belarus programme of DBT on biopesticides, Indo-Mexico programme on fungal dimorphism, to name a few. Dr. Deshpande is an elected fellow of Maharashtra Academy of Sciences (FMASc, 1994) and the Society for Biocontrol Advancement (FSBA, 2010). He has to his credit more than 150 research papers, reviews and chapters, 8 patents, 8 books and a number of popular articles. He has his own start-up Greenvention Biotech located in Urli-Kanchan, Pune for the translational activities in Agricultural Biotechnology.