Abstract

An unprecedented number of emerging fungal pathogens (EFPs) are emerging and causing disease in animals and plants, putting the resilience of wild and managed ecosystems in jeopardy. While the past decades have seen an increase in the number of EFPs, they have also seen the birth of new big-data technologies and analytical approaches to tackle these emerging pathogens. I explore the methodologies and bioinformatic toolkits that currently exist to rapidly analyse the genomes of unknown fungi, then discuss how these data can be used to address key questions that shed light on their epidemiology. I then show how new high-throughput experimental models, biochemical methods and informatics toolkits are allowing the fuller characterisation of ecological interactions that modify the outcome of EFPs as they occur, and speculate on future 'Big Biology' approaches that will transform our ability to tackle this increasingly important class of emerging pathogens.

Abstract