Truffle and truffle-like fungi from continental Africa

Africa is a diverse continent composed of many different terrestrial biomes, from the largest nonpolar desert in the world to equatorial forests and Southern African Fynbos. Biodiversity within the continent is high but much remains to be discovered. Sightings of hypogeous fruiting bodies of mycorrhizal fungi (truffles and truffle-like fungi) have been recorded from the most northern countries of the continent to the most southern countries; they have been widely collected for culinary and medicinal purposes. In this review, we describe the most prominent species of mycorrhizal fungi forming hypogeal fruiting bodies, across six genera. The most ubiquitous of these are the “desert truffle” species and the most common genus of plants with which they associate are those of the genus Helianthemum. We also describe the key species of truffle and truffle-like fungi in continental Africa. Where information exists, we describe the ecology, medicinal properties, and ethnomycology of the identified fungi

Metabolic profile and skin-related bioactivities of cerioporus squamosus hydromethanolic extract

Being a functional food capable of showing nutritional as well as medicinal properties have great attention. Mushrooms have been proven as leading targets in this field. For this purpose, the edible mushroom Cerioporus squamosus was investigated in this study to evaluate the in vitro skin-related bioactivities of its hydromethanolic extract in terms of enhancing wound healing, and human skin cancer suppression capabilities. Treatment of fibroblast cells (BJ-1) with the hydromethanolic extract of this mushroom at 50 µg/mL enhanced cell migration rates by 71.7% after 24 h of exposure to the extract. Moreover, the same extract exhibited a promising impact on human skin cancer using an epidermoid carcinoma cell line (A431). The gradual increase in C. squamosus hydromethanolic extract concentration caused gradual decrease in the A431 cell viability and proliferation. Maximum effect on reducing the cell viability was obtained at a concentration of 100 µg/mL, where cell viability was 3.7%, and recorded IC50 was 52.6 µg/mL. The metabolic profile of the extract was analyzed by GC-MS, which was performed on its silylated metabolites. Nineteen compounds were detected including sugar alcohols, amino acids, fatty and organic acids. Promising results of this mushroom extract encourage conducting further steps towards using this mushroom as a functional food showing promising bioactivities

Mycorrhiza and Lichens as Two Models of Fungal Symbiosis

Fungi have evolved many symbioses including different eukaryotes and prokaryotes. Mutualism is one of the symbioses and here both symbionts benefit from the interaction. The most common mutualistic relationships involving fungi are mycorrhiza and lichens. A mycorrhiza is a symbiotic relationship between a roots of a plant and a fungus while lichen associates between a fungus and an algae. Many studies have performed to investigate these symbiotic relationships in depth, however, still have some debates on them, though many taxonomists rely on genetic analyses besides with traditional morphological data. In our study, it highlights the nature, importance, nutritional and pharmaceutical uses, and applications of these mysterious dual between fungi and plant and/or algae

Fungal Pigments: Their Diversity, Chemistry, Food and Non-Food Applications

Colorants have many applications in food, cosmetics, pharmaceutics, textile, paints, plastics, paper, ink and photographic industries. Colorants are classified according to their solubility into dyes and pigments. Those of natural origin have many advantages over synthetic ones, as natural colorants usually do not induce allergies or other health problems. In addition, their consumption in the food and drug industries is fortified with nutritional and health benefits as the majority of them possess antioxidant activity or can be used to produce some vitamins. Plants, animals, insects and microorganisms are rich sources of colorants. However, microbial pigments are favored over other natural pigments due to their higher yield, stability, economical production. Therefore, we focus in this review on fungal pigments, the history of their use, their chemistry and their applications in food and non-food fields. Additionally, the ability of the fungal genus, Epicoccum, to produce pigments is discussed. Moreover, the challenges and future prospects concerning fungal pigment production are highlighted in detail

Studies on biosynthetic and action mechanisms of a novel bacteriocin, lactococcin Z

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Biologically active orcinol-based secondary metabolites originated from lichens

Lichens have attracted considerable interest since ancient time due to their medicinal properties. Lichen produce a variety of orcinol-based compounds such as xanthones, anthraquinones, dibenzofurans, depsides, and depsidones. Several related compounds have shown potent bioactivities as antiviral, antioxidant, anti-herbivore, insecticidal, antifungal, and anticancer. Lichens have been employed as traditional medicines, and these are continuing to be of great interest for their biotechnological potential. The purpose of this review was to systematically evaluate the literature on the orcinol based biologically active secondary metabolites of lichen

Medicinal mushrooms as a new source of natural therapeutic bioactive compounds

In the ancient books of traditional medicines, medicinal mushrooms were occupying the headlines, and the main topics were confirming to their miraculous therapeutic powers. The presence of various phenolic compounds, polysaccharides, and terpenoids and other compounds, is the reason for their potent biological activities as anticancer, antioxidant, antimicrobial, antiaging, hepatic protective, hypoglycemic, hypocholesterolemic, and much more biological activities are discovered every day. Many mushroom genera are famous for their promising therapeutic capabilities. One of the mushrooms genera attracting attention is Cordyceps which has long been used in Asian countries for maintaining long and healthy life. Numerous studies on different metabolic activities of Cordyceps have been performed both in vitro and in vivo. This review describes the importance of medicinal mushrooms with focus on Cordyceps as an example of globally commercialized mushrooms

Fomitopsis officinalis mushroom: ancient gold mine of functional components and biological activities for modern medicine

Polypore mushrooms have been used medicinally for thousands of years. Agarikon (Fomitopsis officinalis) is a medicinal polypore mushroom containing a host of pharmacologically active compounds that beneficially affect human health. Agarikon is known for its capability of producing various biologically active compounds with medical applications such as antiviral, antibacterial, anticancer, and anti-inflammatory agents. This review describes the importance of medicinal mushrooms, with a specific focus on Agarikon as an example of a globally commercialized medicinal mushroom

In Vitro Antigenotoxic, Antihelminthic and Antioxidant Potentials Based on the Extracted Metabolites from Lichen,Candelariella vitellina

Lichens have recently received great attention due to their pharmacological potentials. The antigenotoxic potential ofC. vitellinaextract (25 and 50 mu g/mL) was assessed in normal human peripheral blood lymphocytes (HPBL) against Mitomycin C (MMC) co-treatments. Flow cytometric analyses of cell cycle distribution, as well as apoptosis (Annexin V/PI), revealed that the extract had significantly (p <= 0.05) ameliorated the MMC toxicity by reducing the apoptotic cells and normalized the cell cycle phases.C. vitellinaexhibited antigenotoxicity by ameliorating the diminished mitotic index and DNA single-strand breaks caused by MMC. Herein, the hydromethanolic extract (80%) ofCandelariella vitellina(Japan) lichen, exhibited very low cytotoxicity towards normal human peripheral lymphocytes (HPBL) with IC50>1000 mu g/mL. In order to explore the antihelminthic effect,Echinococcus granulosusprotoscoleces were used in vitro. Eosin staining revealed significant (p <= 0.05) dose and time-dependent scolicidal effects of the extract confirmed by degenerative alterations as observed by electron scan microscopy. Furthermore, primary and secondary metabolites were investigated using GC-MS and qualitative HPLC, revealing the presence of sugars, alcohols, different phenolic acids and light flavonoids. Significant antioxidant capacities were also demonstrated by DPPH radical-scavenging assay. In conclusion, the promising antigenotoxic, antihelminthic and antioxidant potentials ofC. vitellinaextract encourage further studies to evaluate its possible therapeutic potency

GC-MS analysis and in-vitro hypocholesterolemic, anti-rotavirus, anti-human colon carcinoma activities of the crude extract of a Japanese Ganoderma spp

Background and objective Medicinal mushrooms are mines of various biologically active compounds. Therefore, chemical analysis and in-vitro evaluation of some biological activities of the Japanese originated mushroom Ganoderma spp. were conducted. Materials and methods Extraction of the fruiting bodies of Ganoderma spp. was accomplished using 80% methanol. This extract was investigated for its in-vitro cholesterol-lowering activity, anti-rotavirus effect, and anti-human colon cancer influence. Moreover, a gas chromatography–mass spectrometry analysis for this extract was performed. Results and conclusion The gas chromatography–mass spectrometry analysis resulted in the detection of 39 compounds, which were generally saturated and unsaturated fatty acids, and alkenes. The crude extract exhibited a promising in-vitro cholesterol-lowering activity (100±0%) after 96 h of incubation at room temperature. The same crude extract showed a moderate anti-rotavirus SA-11 strain effect with a therapeutic index of 9.3. Moreover, Ganoderma spp. extract displayed a strong activity toward HCT116 human colon carcinoma cell line, resulting in a cytotoxicity of 84.03±0.93% on HCT116 cell line monolayers. Ganoderma spp. crude extract represents a promising source of biologically active compounds that could by further investigations represent support and/or alternative to the currently used drugs