Genetics
Because fungi possess a relatively low level of organisation and are easy to
handle in the laboratory, fungi represent increasingly important tools in modern
research, especially in genetics. The different types of life cycles, the different ways of
genetic inheritance and e.g. the possibility to identify by tetratede analysis in certain
ascomycetes the stepwise production of the meiosis products, are advantages of this
group of microorganisms. Successes in this area of research are documented e.g. by
the first Nobel Prise given for fungal research in 1958 for physiology and medicine
to BEADL E and TATU M for their work with the red bread mould Neurospora