Edible Mycorrhizal Fungi: Identification, Life Cycle and Morphogenesis

In mid-2005, 6.5 billion people shared the planet and, according to 2004 estimates by the population division of the UN Secretariat, world population is expected to rise in the next 45 years by 2.6 billion, to reach a total of 9.1 billion in 2050 (www.unfpa.org). Consequently, one of the main challenges of the twenty-first century will be to produce sufficient food. As illustrated by Morrissey et al. (2004), microbes are important since “Applying knowledge about beneficial plant-microbe interactions […] may allow us to increase food production”. Among these microbes, fungi could not only improve plant production, but with about 2,500 edible species recorded, they could also represent an important integrative source of food and incomes (Bao 2004; Wang and Hall 2004). We know that edible fungi represent since long time an appreciated source of food for human populations. The archaeological record reveals edible species associated with people living 13,000 years ago in Chile (Rojas and Mansur 1995). In China, the eating of wild fungi is reliably noted from 6,000–7,000 years ago (Wang 1987). Edible fungi were also collected from forests in ancient Greek and Roman times and highly valued. For instance, we know that truffles were appreciated during antiquity (Callot 1999). Now, they are collected, consumed and sold in over 85 countries worldwide.