Mycopharmaceuticals and Nutraceuticals: Promising Agents to Improve Human Well-Being and Life Quality

Chemical Composition, Antioxidant and Anti-Inflammatory Activity of Shiitake Mushrooms (Lentinus edodes)

Shiitake mushrooms (Lentinus edodes) are renowned as the "King of mountain treasures" in China due to their abundant nutritional and health-enhancing properties. Intensive chemical investigations of the fruiting bodies and mycelium of Shiitake mushrooms (Lentinus edodes) afforded five new compounds (1-5), named lentinmacrocycles A-C and lentincoumarins A-B, along with fifteen known compounds (6-20). Their structures and absolute configurations were elucidated by extensive spectroscopic analysis, including one-and two-dimensional (1D and 2D) NMR spectroscopy, circular dichroism (CD), and high-resolution electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (HR-ESI-MS). The anti-inflammatory activity test showed that lentincoumarins A (4), (3S)-7-hydroxymellein (9), (3R)-6-hydroxymellein (11) and succinic acid (18) exhibited strong NO inhibitory effects (IC50 < 35 μM), and that (3S)-5-hydroxymellein (10) and (3R)-6-hydroxymellein (11) exhibited potent TNF-α inhibitory effects (IC50 < 80 μM) and were more potent than the positive control, Indomethacin (IC50 = 88.5 ± 2.1 μM). The antioxidant activity test showed that (3R)-6-hydroxymellein (11) had better DPPH radical scavenging activity (IC50 = 25.2 ± 0.5 μM).

Endophytic Fungi Volatile Organic Compounds as Crucial Biocontrol Agents Used for Controlling Fruit and Vegetable Postharvest Diseases

Fruits and vegetables are an important part of the human diet, but during transportation and storage, microbial pathogens attack and spoil fruits and vegetables, causing huge economic losses to agriculture. Traditionally used chemical fungicides leave chemical residues, leading to environmental pollution and health risks. With the emphasis on food safety, biocontrol agents are attracting more and more attention due to their environmental friendliness. Endophytic fungi are present in plant tissues and do not cause host disease. The volatile organic compounds (VOCs) they produce are used to control postharvest diseases due to their significant antifungal activity, as well as their volatility, safety and environmental protection characteristics. This review provides the concept and characterization of endophytic fungal VOCs, concludes the types of endophytic fungi that release antifungal VOCs and their biological control mechanisms, as well as focuses on the practical applications and the challenges of applying VOCs as fumigants. Endophytic fungal VOCs can be used as emerging biocontrol resources to control postharvest diseases that affect fruits and vegetables.

Exploring the potential of Aspergillus wentii: secondary metabolites and biological properties

Fungi are of considerable importance due to their capacity to biosynthesize various secondary metabolites with bioactive properties that draw high attention in new drug discovery with beneficial uses for improving human well-being and life quality. Aspergillus genus members are widespread and cosmopolitan species with varying economic significance in the fields of industry, medicine, and agriculture. Its species are renowned for their biosynthesis of secondary metabolites, characterized by both potent biological activity and structural novelty, making them a substantial reservoir for the development of new pharmaceuticals. The current work aimed at focusing on one species of this genus, Aspergillus wentii Wehmer, including its reported secondary metabolites in the period from 1951 to November 2023. A total of 97 compounds, including nitro-compounds, terpenoids, anthraquinones, xanthones, benzamides, and glucans. A summary of their bioactivities, as well as their biosynthesis was highlighted. Additionally, the reported applications of this fungus and its enzymes have been discussed. This review offers a useful reference that can direct future research into this fungus and its active metabolites, as well as their possible pharmacological and biotechnological applications.

Insight of endophytic fungi promoting the growth and development of woody plants

Microorganisms play an important role in plant growth and development. In particular, endophytic fungi is one of the important kinds of microorganisms and has a mutually beneficial symbiotic relationship with host plants. Endophytic fungi have many substantial benefits to host plants, especially for woody plants, such as accelerating plant growth, enhancing stress resistance, promoting nutrient absorption, resisting pathogens and etc. However, the effects of endophytic fungi on the growth and development of woody plants have not been systematically summarized. In this review, the functions of endophytic fungi for the growth and development of woody plants have been mainly reviewed, including regulating plant growth (e.g., flowering, root elongation, etc.) by producing nutrients and plant hormones, and improving plant disease, insect resistance and heavy metal resistance by producing secondary metabolites. In addition, the diversity of endophytic fungi could improve the ability of woody plants to adapt to adverse environment. The components produced by endophytic fungi have excellent potential for the growth and development of woody plants. This review has systematically discussed the potential regulation mechanism of endophytic fungi regulating the growth and development of woody plants, it would be of great significance for the development and utilization of endophytic fungi resource from woody plants for the protection of forest resources.

Unveiling the Therapeutic Potentials of Mushroom Bioactive Compounds in Alzheimer's Disease

Alzheimer's disease (AD) stands as a prevailing neurodegenerative condition (NDs), leading to the gradual deterioration of brain cells and subsequent declines in memory, thinking, behavior, and emotion. Despite the intensive research efforts and advances, an effective curative treatment for the disease has not yet been found. Mushrooms, esteemed globally for their exquisite flavors and abundant nutritional benefits, also hold a wealth of health-promoting compounds that contribute to improving AD health. These compounds encompass polysaccharides, proteins, lipids, terpenoids, phenols, and various other bioactive substances. Particularly noteworthy are the potent neuroprotective small molecules found in mushrooms, such as ergothioneine, erinacine, flavonoids, alkaloids, ergosterol, and melanin, which warrant dedicated scrutiny for their therapeutic potential in combating AD. This review summarizes such positive effects of mushroom bioactive compounds on AD, with a hope to contribute to the development of functional foods as an early dietary intervention for this neurodegenerative disease.

Biotechnological Applications of Mushrooms under the Water-Energy-Food Nexus: Crucial Aspects and Prospects from Farm to Pharmacy

Mushrooms have always been an important source of food, with high nutritional value and medicinal attributes. With the use of biotechnological applications, mushrooms have gained further attention as a source of healthy food and bioenergy. This review presents different biotechnological applications and explores how these can support global food, energy, and water security. It highlights mushroom's relevance to meet the sustainable development goals of the UN. This review also discusses mushroom farming and its requirements. The biotechnology review includes sections on how to use mushrooms in producing nanoparticles, bioenergy, and bioactive compounds, as well as how to use mushrooms in bioremediation. The different applications are discussed under the water, energy, and food (WEF) nexus. As far as we know, this is the first report on mushroom biotechnology and its relationships to the WEF nexus. Finally, the review valorizes mushroom biotechnology and suggests different possibilities for mushroom farming integration.

OMICS and Other Advanced Technologies in Mycological Applications

Fungi play many roles in different ecosystems. The precise identification of fungi is important in different aspects. Historically, they were identified based on morphological characteristics, but technological advancements such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and DNA sequencing now enable more accurate identification and taxonomy, and higher-level classifications. However, some species, referred to as "dark taxa", lack distinct physical features that makes their identification challenging. High-throughput sequencing and metagenomics of environmental samples provide a solution to identifying new lineages of fungi. This paper discusses different approaches to taxonomy, including PCR amplification and sequencing of rDNA, multi-loci phylogenetic analyses, and the importance of various omics (large-scale molecular) techniques for understanding fungal applications. The use of proteomics, transcriptomics, metatranscriptomics, metabolomics, and interactomics provides a comprehensive understanding of fungi. These advanced technologies are critical for expanding the knowledge of the Kingdom of Fungi, including its impact on food safety and security, edible mushrooms foodomics, fungal secondary metabolites, mycotoxin-producing fungi, and biomedical and therapeutic applications, including antifungal drugs and drug resistance, and fungal omics data for novel drug development. The paper also highlights the importance of exploring fungi from extreme environments and understudied areas to identify novel lineages in the fungal dark taxa.

Activity of aurisin A isolated from Neonothopanus nambi against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus strains

Mycopharmaceuticals from basidiomycetes represent a promising source of new antimicrobials to overcome the challenges of multidrug-resistant bacteria. Here we report for the first time the in vitro activity of aurisin A, a dimeric sesquiterpenoid isolated from wild bioluminescent basidiomycetes Neonothopanus nambi DSM 24013, against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Aurisin A revealed strong anti-MRSA activity with minimum inhibitory concentration 7.81 μg/mL against ATCC 33591 and ATCC 43300 reference strains, and BD 16876 and BD 15358 clinical strains. Activity against the clinical strains is 10- to 40-fold higher than that of the antibiotic fusidic acid. Furthermore, aurisin A proved to be more potent (MIC 3.91 μg/mL) in inhibiting growth of vancomycin-intermediate S. aureus (VISA) ATCC 700699 and displayed a rapid time-dependent bactericidal activity against MRSA (complete killing within 1 h). Additionally, aurisin A and oxacillin combination displayed synergy with notable decrease in the MICs of both compounds against MRSA. Notable synergism was also observed in combinations with linezolid and fusidic acid. Our findings indicate that aurisin A is a promising candidate for developing therapeutic agents against multidrug-resistant S. aureus and warrants further investigation.

Secondary metabolites of Alternaria: A comprehensive review of chemical diversity and pharmacological properties

Fungi are considered to be one of the wealthiest sources of bio-metabolites that can be employed for yielding novel biomedical agents. Alternaria, including parasitic, saprophytic, and endophytic species, is a kind of dark fungi that can produce a broad array of secondary metabolites (SMs) widely distributed in many ecosystems. These are categorized into polyketides, nitrogen-containing compounds, quinones, terpenes, and others based on the unique structural features of the metabolites. New natural products derived from Alternaria exhibit excellent bioactivities characterized by antibacterial, antitumor, antioxidative, phytotoxic, and enzyme inhibitory properties. Thus, the bio-metabolites of Alternaria species are significantly meaningful for pharmaceutical, industrial, biotechnological, and medicinal applications. To update the catalog of secondary metabolites synthesized by Alternaria fungi, 216 newly described metabolites isolated from Alternaria fungi were summarized with their diverse chemical structures, pharmacological activity, and possible biosynthetic pathway. In addition, possible insights, avenues, and challenges for future research and development of Alternaria are discussed.

The Chemotherapeutic Potentials of Compounds Isolated from the Plant, Marine, Fungus, and Microorganism: Their Mechanism of Action and Prospects

Research on natural products mainly focuses on developing a suitable drug to treat human disease. There has been a sharp increase in the development of drugs from natural products. Most of the drugs that are available are from the terrestrial origin. Marine natural products are less explored. Oceans are considered as a vast ecosystem with a wide variety of living organisms and natural products that are unexplored. Large numbers of antitumor drugs are from natural sources such as plants, marine, and microorganisms. 80% new chemical entities that were launched over the past 60 decades were from a natural source. In this article, the anticancer potential from the natural source such as plants, fungi, microorganisms, marine, and endophytes has been reviewed. Emphasis is given on the compound from the marine, plant, and of bacterial origin. Finally, we consider the future and how we might achieve better sustainability to alleviate human cancer suffering while having fewer side effects, more efficacies, and causing less harm than the present treatments.

How Should the Worldwide Knowledge of Traditional Cancer Healing Be Integrated with Herbs and Mushrooms into Modern Molecular Pharmacology?

Traditional herbal medicine (THM) is a "core" from which modern medicine has evolved over time. Besides this, one third of people worldwide have no access to modern medicine and rely only on traditional medicine. To date, drugs of plant origin, or their derivates (paclitaxel, vinblastine, vincristine, vinorelbine, etoposide, camptothecin, topotecan, irinotecan, and omacetaxine), are very important in the therapy of malignancies and they are included in most chemotherapeutic regimes. To date, 391,000 plant and 14,000 mushroom species exist. Their medical and biochemical capabilities have not been studied in detail. In this review, we systematized the information about plants and mushrooms, as well as their active compounds with antitumor properties. Plants and mushrooms are divided based on the regions where they are used in ethnomedicine to treat malignancies. The majority of their active compounds with antineoplastic properties and mechanisms of action are described. Furthermore, on the basis of the available information, we divided them into two priority groups for research and for their potential of use in antitumor therapy. As there are many prerequisites and some examples how THM helps and strengthens modern medicine, finally, we discuss the positive points of THM and the management required to transform and integrate THM into the modern medicine practice.

Typical JUNCAO Overwintering Performance and Optimized Cultivation Conditions of Pennisetum sp. in Guizhou, Southwest China

JUNCAO technology plays a critical role in managing soil ecology and alleviating contradiction between mushroom and forest, as JUNCAO can partially replace the wood chip as mushroom culture medium. At present, few reports focus on exploring the effects of seeding density, nitrogen fertilizers on JUNCAO growth and their overwintering performance. To close the above-mentioned research gaps, five typical types of JUNCAO were evaluated by investigating their grass yield, overwintering germination rates and nutrient adsorption condition. The results indicated that Pennisetum sp. showed the best overwintering performance. In addition, the optimized planting conditions for Pennisetum sp. include cultivation density (60 cm × 50 cm), oblique seeding using stem with double nodes, and 800 kg·ha−1 nitrogen fertilizer. This study gave good insights into low-temperature resisting performance and their overwintering characteristics of diverse JUNCAO species that favor for promoting the safe and efficient productions of the JUNCAO industry in subtropical areas.

Unravelling Anti-Melanogenic Potency of Edible Mushrooms Laetiporus sulphureus and Agaricus silvaticus In Vivo Using the Zebrafish Model

Severe drawbacks associated with the topical use of depigmenting agents in treatments of skin hyperigmentations impose a great demand for novel, effective, and safe melanogenesis inhibitors. Edible and medicinal mushrooms, known for numerous health-promoting properties, represent a rich reservoir of anti-melanogenic compounds, with the potential to be applied in preventing excessive skin pigmentation. Herein, using zebrafish (Danio rerio) as a preclinical animal model, we have demonstrated that ethanol extract of Laetiporus sulphureus (LSE) and Agaricus silvaticus (ASE) are not toxic at high doses up to 400-500 µg/mL while effectively inhibit melanogenesis in a dose-dependent manner. At depigmenting doses, the explored extracts showed no adverse effects on zebrafish embryos melanocytes. Even more, they did not provoke inflammation or neutropenia when applied at the highest dose ensuring almost complete the cells depigmentation. Since LSE and ASE have demonstrated significantly higher the therapeutic potential than kojic acid and hydroquinone, two well-known depigmenting agents, overall results of this study strongly suggest that the explored mushrooms extracts could be used as efficient and safe topical agents in treatments of skin hyperpigmentation disorders.