David Alexander Mitchell

Maria Angela Lopes de Almeida Amazonas

Walter Steiner

English

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Advances in Macrofungal BiotechnologyMushroom-forming fungi have a long history ofuse, not only as foods, but also as medicines for a widerange of ailments. Over the centuries, and especially inthe last decades, domestication of wild species and de-velopment of appropriate cultivation techniques havesupplied the world market with more and more newspecies. The current state-of-the-art with respect to theproduction of fruiting bodies of a range of mushroomsis well described in many papers and books. However,there is also a growing market for mushroom productsother than fruiting bodies. This special issue focuses onthe production and application of such products fromselected mushroom-forming basidiomycetes.For these products typically, although not always,the cultivation system involves submerged culture inbioreactors for the production of mycelial biomass andspecific metabolites, or for the realisation of specific ac-tivities related to their wood-degrading abilities. Despitethe fact that several polysaccharides from mushroomsare produced commercially in submerged fermentation,there are still many gaps in our knowledge about howto grow basidiomycetes in bioreactors, as pointed out inthe review by Tang et al. (1).This special issue contains six other reviews aboutbiotechnological applications of several important gen-era or groups of macrofungi. One of the first basidiomy-cetes that was cultivated in submerged culture at largescale was the shiitake fungus, Lentinula edodes. Nikitinaet al. (2) show how the focus of research with this fun-gus has shifted from the production of polysaccharides,such as lentinan, to other products, such as lectins. An-other important macrofungus is the oyster mushroom,Pleurotus spp. The review of Gregori et al. (3) shows hownew substrates, including agricultural residues and by--products, have been used for production of fruiting bo-dies of this genus. It also shows how enzymes have beenproduced in solid-state fermentations on lignocellulosicwaste materials. In submerged culture, Pleurotus spp.have been used to produce polysaccharides and hydro-lytic and oxidative ligninolytic extracellular enzymes.Two reviews are intimately related with the abilityof some basidiomycetes to degrade wood. Nyanhongo etal. (4) review the production, by white-rot basidiomyce-tes of the genus Trametes, of the enzyme laccase, cello-biose dehydrogenase, and pyranose 2-oxidase, three en-zymes that participate in lignin breakdown and whichhave either demonstrated or potential biotechnologicalapplications. On the other hand, Fackler et al. (5) reviewwork on selective lignin conversion by various white-rotfungi, showing how this selective conversion can be takenadvantage of in the modification of wood surfaces, which,in turn, can be taken advantage of in wood-gluing pro-cesses.Two other reviews address quite different topics. Rossiet al. (6) review techniques for the production of ecto-mycorrhizal fungal inoculants for use in forestry. Thisapplication is likely to become increasingly important withthe increasing need for tree replanting in order to sup-ply the worldwide demand for wood without destroy-ing more native forests. Finally, de Faria et al. (7) showhow tyrosinases from basidiomycetes have several po-tential biotechnological applications, but that much moreattention needs to be given to processes for the produc-tion, purification and immobilization of these enzymes.The special issue also includes four original researchpapers that deal with the production of polysaccharidesin submerged culture of various basidiomycetes and in-vestigation of their biological activities. Kim et al. (8) de-scribe the production of extracellular polysaccharide insubmerged culture by Grifola frondosa and demonstratethat it has potential as a biologically active cosmetic in-gredient, or »cosmeceutical«. Hwang et al. (9) show thatthe extracellular polysaccharide of Phellinus baumii hasan antidiabetic effect, while Shin et al. (10) demonstratean anti-complementary activity for the exopolysaccharideof Flammulina velutipes. Finally, Shu et al. (11) optimizethe production of exopolysaccharide by Agaricus brasili-ensis, this exopolysaccharide being able to stimulate theproduction of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-a) bymacrophages. A final paper deals with the characteriza-tion of the tyrosinase produced in submerged culture byLentinula boryana. De Faria et al. (12) show that this tyro-sinase suffers from substrate inhibition in its reaction withL-DOPA.As guest editors of this special issue, we would liketo thank those people who made it possible. Firstly, wewould like to thank the Editor-in-Chief of Food Techno-logy and Biotechnology, Professor Pavao Mildner, for in-viting us to organize this special issue. Secondly, thanksare due to the authors for accepting the invitation andsubmitting their manuscripts on time. Finally, a specialthanks to Iva Grabari} Andonovski and Zrinka PongracHabdija for their help with the processing of the manu-scripts.David Alexander MitchellWalter SteinerMaria Angela Lopes de Almeida Amazonas219D.A. MITCHELL, W. STEINER and M.A.L.A. AMAZONAS: Preface, Food Technol. Biotechnol. 45 (3) 219–220 (2007)PrefaceReferences1. Y.J. Tang, L.W. Zhu, H.M. Li, D.S. Li, Submerged cultureof mushrooms in bioreactors – Challenges, current state--of-the-art, and future prospects, Food Technol. Biotechnol.45 (2007) 221–229.2. V.E. Nikitina, O.M. Tsivileva, A.N. Pankratov, N.A. Bych-kov, Lentinula edodes biotechnology – From lentinan to lec-tins, Food Technol. Biotechnol. 45 (2007) 230–237.3. A. Gregori, M. [vagelj, J. Pohleven, Cultivation techniquesand medicinal properties of Pleurotus spp., Food Technol. Bio-technol. 45 (2007) 238–249.4. G.S. Nyanhongo, G. Gübitz, P. Sukyai, C. Leitner, D. Hal-trich, R. Ludwig, Oxidoreductases from Trametes spp. inbiotechnology: A wealth of catalytic activity, Food Technol.Biotechnol. 45 (2007) 250–268.5. K. Fackler, C. Gradinger, M. Schmutzer, C. Tavzes, I. Bur-gert, M. Schwanninger, B. Hinterstoisser, T. Watanabe, K.Messner, Biotechnological wood modification with selec-tive white-rot fungi and its molecular mechanisms, FoodTechnol. Biotechnol. 45 (2007) 269–276.6. M.J. Rossi, A. Furigo Jr., V.L. Oliveira, Inoculant produc-tion of ectomycorrhizal fungi by solid and submerged fer-mentations, Food Technol. Biotechnol. 45 (2007) 277–286.7. R.O. de Faria, V.R. Moure, M.A.L.A. Amazonas, N. Krie-ger, D.A. Mitchell, The biotechnological potential of mush-room tyrosinases, Food Technol. Biotechnol. 45 (2007) 287–294.8. S.W. Kim, H.J. Hwang, B.C. Lee, J.W. Yun, Submerged pro-duction and characterization of Grifola frondosa polysaccha-rides – A new application to cosmeceuticals, Food Technol.Biotechnol. 45 (2007) 295–305.9. H.J. Hwang, S.W. Kim, J.W. Yun, Modern biotechnology ofPhellinus baumii – From fermentation to proteomics, FoodTechnol. Biotechnol. 45 (2007) 306–318.10. K.S. Shin, K.W. Yu, H.K. Lee, H. Lee, W.D. Cho, H.J. Suh,Production of anti-complementary exopolysaccharides fromsubmerged culture of Flammulina velutipes, Food Technol.Biotechnol. 45 (2007) 319–326.11. C.H. Shu, C.J. Xu, Medium optimization for producing bio-active exopolysaccharides by Agaricus brasiliensis S. Wasseret al. (=A. blazei Murrill ss. Heinem) in submerged culture,Food Technol. Biotechnol. 45 (2007) 327–333.12. R.O. de Faria, V.R. Moure, W. Balmant, M.A.L.A. Amazo-nas, N. Krieger, D.A. Mitchell, The tyrosinase produced byLentinula boryana (Berk. & Mont.) Pegler suffers substrateinhibition by L-DOPA, Food Technol. Biotechnol. 45 (2007)334–340.220 D.A. MITCHELL, W. STEINER and M.A.L.A. AMAZONAS: Preface, Food Technol. Biotechnol. 45 (3) 219–220 (2007)

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