ABSTRACT
A gene cluster can be defined as containing two or more closely linked genes participating in the same functional pathway. Although such a definition could include a description of several types of fungal gene clusters-including nutrient utilization clusters [1], pathogenicity islands [2], and mating-type clusters [3,4]—the focus of this chapter is on secondary metabolite gene clusters. Our goal is to summarize the existing descriptions of these clusters as well as to examine models that could explain the clusters’ evolution.
