Mycotherapy of the good and the tasty medicinal mushrooms Lentinus, Pleurotus, and Tremella

Abstract

Fungi generally and mushrooms secondary metabolites specifically represent future factories and potent biotechnological tools for the production of bioactive natural substances, which could extend the healthy life of humanity. The application of microbial secondary metabolites in general and mushrooms metabolites in particular in various fields of biotechnology has attracted the interests of many researchers. This review focused on Lentinus, Pleurotus, and Tremella as a model of edible mushrooms rich in therapeutic agents that have known medicinal applications.

Medicinal mushroom: What should we know?

“…Nutrition therapy on the basis of traditional Chinese medicine such Tremella is quite effective at treating common diseases (Figure 5). 13 Tremella fuciformis belonging to the order of Tremellales and the family of Tremellaceae, which has been traditionally used for health promotion in China and other East Asian countries for many years. Plenty of bioactive substances are discovered in Tremella fuciformis, including fatty acids, proteins, enzymes, polysaccharides, phenols, flavonoid, dietary fiber and trace elements.Among them, Tremella fuciformis polysaccharide has been identified as a major bioactive component in Tremella fuciformis, widely existed in fruiting body, spores, mycelia and ferment liquor.…”

“…51 Tremella fuciformis is naturally abundant in polysaccharides, which are a type of antioxidant that may contribute to anti-aging and antioxidant effects because of their ability to prevent cell damage caused by free radicals. 13…”

“…The presence of various phenolic compounds, polysaccharides, and terpenoids and other compounds, is the reason for their potent biological activities as anticancer, antioxidant, antimicrobial, antiviral, antiaging, hepatic protective, hypoglycemic, hypocholesterolemic, and much more biological activities are discovered every day. [11][12][13][14][15] Many mushroom genera are famous for their promising therapeutic capabilities. In most Asian countries, it was believed that medicinal mushrooms had the power to enhance long life and liveliness.…”

The wild non edible mushrooms, what should we know so far?

“…Also, as clean and efficient biocontrol agents that help in getting rid of many harmful insects. On the other hand, many studies have described the activities of the fruiting bodies, crude extracts, and purified compounds originated from mushrooms [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] . These activities include antimicrobial, antiviral, anticancer, antioxidant, antitumor, antiinflammatory, immunosuppressant, hypocholesterolemic, and hypoglycemic effects.…”

Cordyceps More Than Edible Mushroom-A Rich Source of Diverse Bioactive Metabolites with Huge Medicinal Benefits

“…On the other hand, mushrooms are rich sources of diff erent compounds such as terpenes, phenolic compounds, fatty acids, and -glucans, polysaccharides, proteins. Such compounds are responsible for the biological activities reported for many mushroom species including having anticancer, antiviral, antitumor, antidiabetic, antidepressive, antioxidant, immunomodulatory, anti-infl ammatory, neuroprotective, hepatoprotective, nephroprotective, osteoprotective, hypotensive, antiallergic, antimicrobial, antihyperlipidemic, and hypocholesterolemic activity [16][17][18][19][20]. Previously, majority of studies have focused on certain species, especially those traditionally used among Asian culture [21][22][23][24][25].…”