fungemi

Fungemi is a term that has appeared in a small subset of ecological and microbiome discussions to describe the functional component of fungi within a given environment. It is not a formal taxonomic category, but rather a functional concept used to highlight what fungi do in ecosystems—such as their genes, metabolites, and interactions with hosts and other organisms. Because the term is not standardized, its exact meaning varies between sources.

In usage, fungemi is sometimes described as complementary or overlapping with established concepts like the mycobiome (the fungal community) and the fungal metagenome (the catalog of fungal genes in a sample). Some authors use fungemi to emphasize functional groups or roles of fungi rather than strict species composition, while others treat it as synonymous with broader fungal data sets. Researchers who employ the term typically specify their working definition in each study.

Methods to study fungemi generally rely on molecular and genomic approaches. Sequencing of marker genes such as ITS or 18S can reveal community composition, while shotgun metagenomics or metatranscriptomics can illuminate functional potential and activity. Analytical approaches include network analyses to infer interactions with plants, bacteria, and other organisms, and functional annotation to link gene content to ecological processes.

Ecologically, fungemi-focused work aims to elucidate contributions to decomposition, nutrient cycling, symbiotic associations (for example, mycorrhizal relationships), pathogen dynamics, and overall ecosystem resilience. Because fungemi is not universally defined, researchers are advised to consult the specific definitions and methods used in individual studies.

See also: mycobiome, fungal metagenome, metagenomics, mycology, microbiome.