Ashbya is a filamentous fungus belonging to the family of Saccharomycetaceae and therefore closely related to Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The ability to form spores as long-term stages is controlled by a number of evolutionary conserved regulators, with environmental conditions such as access to nutrients playing the most decisive role. Within a cell, the cAMP level conveys this kind of information. A high concentration of cAMP stimulates cell multiplication, whereas a low cAMP level promotes sporulation. In Ashbya, a protein kinase (Tpk2) has a crucial messenger role both for sporulation and for the "awakening" of spores and their germination. Therefore, Ashbya can serve as a model fungus for further studies of these processes at a molecular level. Expert reviewers have now honored the academic review with the front page story of the Journal of Fungi.