Mushrooms are well known for their nutritional as well as therapeutic values worldwide. Interest in mushrooms has peaked because immunity and cellular protection are important issues for health conscious consumers and for those individuals who are dealing with serious health issues. Mushrooms generally belong to Basidiomycetes which harbors numerous mushroom species with diversity of metabolites of nutraceutical and therapeutic significance. They have been reported to be the most valuable ones for humans. Investigations on the therapeutic and nutritional properties of mushrooms are underway throughout the world. Researchers are providing crucial data on the array of bioactive compounds found within these fascinating fungi. People are now accepting mushrooms more as food and food supplements. Various academic and research institutes are all involved actively in research on bioactive metabolites of mushrooms. The present paper aims at reviewing the diversity of mushrooms and the types of metabolites especially of nutraceutical and therapeutic importance present in these mushrooms and their role as bioactive agents.

In recent years, a significant interest has been generated in discovering and developing exopolysaccharides (EPS) produced by microorganisms, especially fungi due to their multifaceted industrial and pharmacological applications. A number of filamentous and cellular fungi have been explored for this; however, according to the existing literature, the work on exopolysaccharide production by indigenous culture on this aspect is still very less and requires a serious attention. The present work is an attempt in this regard and aims to optimize the submerged culture conditions to produce the exopolysaccharides from an indigenous yeast Aureobasidium pullulans RYLF-10 with respect to several operating parameters in shake flask fermentation. The yeast A. pullulans RYLF-10 was identified by 18s RNA sequencing and detailed study on its nutritional requirements, and environmental conditions for submerged culture have been optimized. The optimal temperature and pH for both the vegetative growth and EPS production were found to be 28 ± 1 °C and 5.0, respectively, while the agitation speed and inoculum size were reported to be 150 rpm and 1 % (v/v), respectively. Sucrose (50 g/l) and yeast extract (1 g/l) were found to be the most suitable carbon and nitrogen sources which worked best in the ratio of 60:1 and resulted in the maximum EPS yield. Similarly, the other variables like growth regulator (riboflavin) and minerals (NaCl + K2HPO4 + MgSO4) altogether resulted in a noteworthy EPS yield of 45.24 g/l which is the maximum yield from this indigenous isolate of A. pullulans RYLF-10.

A strain of Staphylococcus aureus, capable of invitro immobilisation of human and mouse spermatozoa, was already present in our laboratory. Therefore, in the present study, the factor responsible (sperm immobilisation factor, SIF) was isolated and purified. It was found to compromise not only motility, but also viability, morphology and Mg2+-ATPase activity of mouse spermatozoa. Also, SIF (250μgmL−1), when administered intravaginally in female BALB/c mice before mating, showed 100% contraceptive effect. Moreover, fluorescein isothiocyanate-labelled SIF was also found to bind mouse spermatozoa and various motile as well as non-motile bacteria, indicating the presence of common SIF-binding receptors on spermatozoa and bacteria. Further, to demonstrate molecular mimicry, the amelioration of SIF-induced impairment of sperm function by a SIF-binding bacterial receptor was compelling. For this, the SIF-binding receptor from Escherichia coli (E-SBR) was purified and evaluated for its ameliorative effect on SIF-induced sperm impairment invitro and invivo. Interestingly, upon the addition of mouse spermatozoa to SIF pre-incubated with E-SBR, an ameliorative effect against SIF-induced impairment of sperm function could be observed through analysis of normal sperm parameters (motility, viability, morphology, Mg2+-dependent ATPase levels). E-SBR also blocked binding of labelled SIF to spermatozoa and bacteria and alleviated SIF-induced infertility in female BALB/c mice. This provided evidence for molecular similarities between bacteria and spermatozoa, owing to which anti-bacterial antibodies cross-reacting with spermatozoa might be produced and infertility might follow.

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The present study investigates the possibility of integrating an existing industrial large scale biomass production with the treatment of waste water in which a mixture of organic and inorganic rich pollutants was used as a medium. This study suggests that the replacement of a defined medium with a complete mixotrophic medium gives a significant statistical difference in terms of growth parameters i.e. biomass production and specific growth rate.The green microalga C. pyrenoidosa was cultivated under different mixotrophic conditions for evaluation of biomass production. Inorganic defined fog's medium supplemented, with raw dairy wastewater led to 1.37g/L biomass production in comparison to 1.2g/L obtained with pure glucose revealing 14.16% increase. The study also involves the supplementation of raw dairy wastewater as an organic carbon source in an inorganic medium comprising municipal treated water and reverse osmosis (RO) treated wastewater and attained 2.4g/L and 1.6g/L of biomass respectively, as compared to 0.3g/L and 0.16g/L obtained in the wastewaters alone revealing 700% and 900% increase respectively. Mixotrophic regimen cells as analyzed by a 2D Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy for its biochemical content revealed that fog's blended raw dairy waste (RDW) regimen cells had maximum Carbohydrate/Amide ratio. The study suggests that the mixotrophic regimen C. pyrenoidosa cells can show appropriate growth in a mixture of waste waters and the same comes out to be a cost effective and feasible alternative commercial medium for biomass production without requiring any expensive organic carbon sources in the culture medium.

In this study, the bioemulsifying potential of exopolysaccharide produced by an indigenous species of Aureobasidium pullulans RYLF10 has been determined and various factors affecting the emulsification activity has been evaluated. The emulsification activity was determined with 8 different vegetable oils (olive, soybean, sesame, sunflower, coconut, mustard, groundnut and almond oil) which are mainly used for various food purposes. The result obtained revealed the emulsification activity (%EA) of the test EPS was quite fair with all the vegetable oils used in the study. However, it was found maximum (56%) with olive oil at the concentration of 1.5% and was very much comparable with the emulsification activity of gum Arabic, the standard emulsifier. Therefore, the olive oil was used for studies related to various factors affecting the emulsification activity of the test emulsifier. The emulsion formed was found to be oil in water (o/w) type which possessed remarkable temperature, pH and salt for 24 hours. Droplet size analysis of the test emulsifier revealed to possess monomodal type of size distribution with droplet size of 105 µm which was responsible for stabilizing the emulsion. The result obtained suggest that the emulsion of the test EPS with olive oil can potentially be used in various food applications where olive oil is used.

The present study investigates the possibility of integrating an existing industrial large scale biomass production with the treatment of waste water in which a mixture of organic and inorganic rich pollutants was used as a medium. This study suggests that the replacement of a defined medium with a complete mixotrophic medium gives a significant statistical difference in terms of growth parameters i.e. biomass production and specific growth rate.The green microalga C. pyrenoidosa was cultivated under different mixotrophic conditions for evaluation of biomass production. Inorganic defined fog's medium supplemented, with raw dairy wastewater led to 1.37g/L biomass production in comparison to 1.2g/L obtained with pure glucose revealing 14.16% increase. The study also involves the supplementation of raw dairy wastewater as an organic carbon source in an inorganic medium comprising municipal treated water and reverse osmosis (RO) treated wastewater and attained 2.4g/L and 1.6g/L of biomass respectively, as compared to 0.3g/L and 0.16g/L obtained in the wastewaters alone revealing 700% and 900% increase respectively. Mixotrophic regimen cells as analyzed by a 2D Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy for its biochemical content revealed that fog's blended raw dairy waste (RDW) regimen cells had maximum