Harnessing Fungi: From Cellular and Genetic Mechanisms to Biotechnological Applications

Dear Colleagues,

Fungi constitute one of the most versatile and impactful kingdoms of life, possessing extraordinary metabolic diversity, genetic plasticity, and environmental adaptability. They are indispensable to modern society—from producing antibiotics, therapeutic agents, and industrial enzymes to driving sustainable agriculture and environmental remediation. Fully leveraging this potential, however, depends on deepening our understanding of the molecular, cellular, and genetic mechanisms that govern fungal physiology.

Rapid progress across modern analytical, computational, high-throughput, and engineering technologies has greatly expanded our capacity to elucidate fungal biological processes and redesign fungal systems for improved performance. These developments are accelerating the creation of robust fungal cell factories for the efficient biosynthesis of high-value compounds, biofuels, and industrial enzymes.

This Special Issue aims to highlight both fundamental discoveries and their translation into biotechnological applications. We welcome original research articles, reviews, minireviews, method articles, and short communications that integrate mechanistic understanding with innovative engineering strategies, thereby advancing the future of fungal biotechnology.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Genetic regulatory networks, signaling pathways, and cellular physiology;
• Novel genetic tools and synthetic biology platforms for fungi;
• Metabolic engineering for enhanced production of secondary metabolites, enzymes, and biofuels;
• Stress adaptation mechanisms and their application in industrial strain improvement;
• Fungal cell factory design, optimization, and bioprocess engineering;
• Advances in fungal expression systems and protein secretion;
• Fungi in bioremediation, agriculture, and sustainable biotechnology;
• Multi-omics, high-throughput, computational, and AI-assisted approaches.

Dr. Tianqiong Shi
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Fungi is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.