Purpose of Review

The continued, rapid development of novel molecular genetic tools is contributing to a better understanding of forest-associated fungi and their interactive roles within diverse forest ecosystems. This paper focuses on recent developments of DNA-based diagnostics/detection, phylogenetics, population genetics, genomics, and metagenomics tools that have been applied to forest-associated fungi to better understand their roles in forest ecosystems and provide key insights for managing forest health.

Recent Findings

With the advent of new molecular technologies, we can better understand the biology of forest fungi by examining their genetic code. By utilizing genomics, fungal pathogens’ biological functions can be deduced from its genomic content. Further, high-resolution marker systems allow the determination of a pathogen’s population genetics and genomics, which provides important insights into its global movement and genetic shifts in local pathogen populations. Such genetic information has diverse applications for forest management to improve forest health. Lastly, new technologies in metagenomics will enhance the abilities to detect, describe, and utilize the complex interactions among fungal pathogens/symbionts, host trees, and associated microbial communities to develop novel management strategies for forest ecosystems.

Summary

Continued development and applications of molecular genetic and genomic tools provide insights into the diverse roles of forest-associated fungi in forest ecosystems, but long-term, wide-scale research is needed to determine how ecological functions are influenced by complex ecological interactions among microbial communities, other forest ecosystem components, and the environment. Such approaches may foster a paradigm shift away from single microbial pathogens, decomposers, or symbionts interacting with a single host or substrate, and provide more holistic approaches toward understanding interactions among microbial communities that drive forest health processes.

中文翻译：

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理解森林相关真菌及其在森林生态系统中的相互作用的分子遗传学方法

审查目的

新型分子遗传工具的持续，快速发展正在帮助人们更好地了解与森林有关的真菌及其在各种森林生态系统中的相互作用。本文重点介绍基于DNA的诊断/检测，系统发育，种群遗传学，基因组学和宏基因组学工具的最新发展，这些工具已应用于与森林相关的真菌，以更好地了解其在森林生态系统中的作用，并为管理森林健康提供重要见解。

最近的发现

随着新分子技术的出现，我们可以通过检查其遗传密码来更好地了解森林真菌的生物学特性。通过利用基因组学，可以从其基因组含量推断出真菌病原体的生物学功能。此外，高分辨率标记系统允许确定病原体的种群遗传学和基因组学，这为了解其整体运动和局部病原体种群的遗传转移提供了重要的见识。此类遗传信息在森林管理中改善森林健康具有多种应用。最后，宏基因组学的新技术将增强检测，描述和利用真菌病原体/共生体，寄主树和相关微生物群落之间复杂相互作用的能力，从而开发出针对森林生态系统的新颖管理策略。

概要

分子遗传学和基因组学工具的不断发展和应用提供了有关森林相关真菌在森林生态系统中各种作用的见解，但需要进行长期的大规模研究，以确定微生物群落之间复杂的生态相互作用如何影响生态功能。 ，其他森林生态系统组件以及环境。此类方法可以促进从单一微生物病原体，分解剂或共生体与单一宿主或基质相互作用的范式转变，并提供更全面的方法来了解驱动森林健康过程的微生物群落之间的相互作用。