Set forth herein is a composition that includes a fungal pellet and animal cells, wherein the animal cells are in connection with the fungal pellet. The animal cells can be located on the exterior surface of the fungal pellet, the interior of the fungal pellet, or both. The fungal pellet can include intact fungal cells. The fungal pellet can be substantially inviable. In an example, the pellet can be heat-treated, chemically treated, or lyophilized. The animal cells can be mammalian cells, wherein the mammalian cells may be non-human mammalian cells.

The presently disclosed invention relates to an enzymatic pre-treatment method for efficient saccharification of lignocellulosic materials. The invention involves a process for releasing carbohydrates/sugars from processing the agricultural feedstock and pre-treating the processed feedstock with lignin modifying enzymes (LME) to produce the reaction mixture which is further used for releasing free carbohydrates/sugars. More particularly, it relates to the production of lignin modifying enzymes and efficient delignification of lignocellulosic materials by using lignin modifying enzymes to prepare ethanol or other bio-chemicals.

The present invention relates to a method for increasing the efficiency of targeted integration of a polynucleotide to a pre-determined site into the genome of a filamentous fungal cell with a preference for NHR, wherein said polynucleotide has a region of homology with said pre-determined site, comprising steering an integration pathway towards HR. The present invention also relates to a mutant filamentous fungus originating from a parent cell, said mutant having an HR pathway with elevated efficiency and/or an NHR pathway with a lowered efficiency and/or a NHR/HR ratio with decreased efficiency as compared to said HR and/or NHR efficiency and/or NHR/HR ratio of said parent cell under the same conditions.

Compositions and methods are provided for prevention and treatment of plant diseases with an antifungal protein.