Sometimes progress in mycology is so significant that it contributes to understanding in the wider scientific arena. To reflect this, an ad hoc series of articles will be published in the Mycologist outlining examples of when this has occurred. This, the first of these articles, examines work by Katinka and co-workers who have published a summary of findings about the genetic code (genome sequence) of the fungal parasite Encephalitozoon cuniculi (Nature 414: 450-453; 22/11/2001). Katinka et al. found that although fungi are complex organisms, the cellular machinery required to make a fungus can be very simple.