The Mucor genus, a polyphyletic group pertaining to early diverging lineages of fungi, includes a high number of ubiquitous species. Some species have positive or negative impacts on human activities. Indeed, certain pathogenic Mucor species are a threat for animal and human health and identified more frequently as mycosis causative agents, especially in immunocompromised patients. On the contrary, a small number of Mucor species have been used for centuries in food manufacturing for cheese ripening or Asian fermented food production. Some species are also used as biotechnologically important microorganisms due to their high growth rates, dimorphism (for certain species) and their previously unsuspected potential for secondary metabolite production. Despite all these important roles played by Mucor spp., they have been less investigated than ascomycetous or basidiomycetous species and their taxonomy, metabolism and ecology are less documented when compared to their counterparts in the so-called higher fungi. Nevertheless, research focusing most often on the emblematic Mucor circinelloides species has led to increased knowledge on the biology of this genus, and overall on fungal biology. This is particularly documented for fungal dimorphism or light-induced gene regulation. The aim of this review is to give an overview of the current knowledge on Mucor morphology, taxonomy, ecology and genetics and of its importance regarding human health and industrial applications.

在毛霉属中，与早期发散真菌谱系的多元组，包括一个高数无处不物种。一些物种对人类活动有正面或负面影响。确实，某些致病性Mucor物种对动物和人类健康构成威胁，并被更频繁地确定为真菌病的病原体，尤其是在免疫功能低下的患者中。相反，少量的Mucor这些物种已经在奶酪制造或亚洲发酵食品生产的食品生产中使用了多个世纪。由于某些物种的高生长速率，二态性（对于某些物种而言）以及其先前未曾预料的次级代谢产物生产潜力，它们也被用作对生物技术具有重要意义的微生物。尽管Mucor spp。发挥了所有这些重要作用，但与子囊菌或担子菌种相比，对它们的研究较少，与所谓的高级真菌中的同类物相比，它们的分类学，代谢和生态学方面的文献较少。然而，研究最集中于标志性的Mucor circinelloides物种导致人们对该属生物学以及真菌生物学的认识不断提高。这对于真菌双态性或光诱导的基因调节尤其有据可查。这篇综述的目的是概述有关Mucor形态，分类学，生态学和遗传学的最新知识，以及其对人类健康和工业应用的重要性。