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POTENTIAL OF EDIBLE
MUSHROOMS
AND THE NEED FOR
THEIR CONSERVATION
Adrian
In general, what are mushrooms?
• Long been used as a source of food• Unique taste and flavor• Traditional medicine in ancient times• Eg. Japan and China• In recent years, interest in mushroom as dietary fiber or healthy food has increased.
Importance and facts
• Without fungi, we would not have bread, beer, wine or antibiotics.
• But more importantly, we would not have the nutrient recycling and plant nutrition provided by fungi.
• Estimated 140,000 species of mushrooms.
• However, only 10% are known.
• About 2,000 species are safe and 700 provide pharmacological properties.
Applications of
• As mentioned previously, food source and traditional medicine. • One of the world’s greatest untapped
resources of nutrition and palatable food for the future.• Effective against cancer, stress, insomnia,
asthma, allergies, diabetes and cholesterol reduction.• Rich in protein, can be used to bridge the
protein malnutrition gap.
Source of medicinal compounds
• Mushroom protein contains all nine essential amino acids required by humans.
• Source of nutrients and vitamins like ascorbic acid, thiamine, riboflavin, iron, phosphorus, etc.
• Rich source of natural bioactive metabolites.
• These medicinal mushrooms are known to show antiviral, antimicrobial, anti-parasitic, anti-cancerous, anti-inflammatory, cardiovascular activities. (Appendix shows anti-cancerous compounds found in mushrooms)
Fungal Conservation
Problem:• Biodiversity databases may prove to be revolutionary for poorly known
species group such as fungi.• However, accurate recording of species occurrences is time consuming
and costly. • In addition, the funding for surveying species is unfairly distributed.• Targeted towards intelligent, attractive or spectacular organisms.
Steps Taken:• In recent year, much emphasis is put onto DNA Metabarcoding in fungal
conservation. • Fungal identification, the basic requisite in conservation is largely done
by molecular approaches.• However, the high throughput sequencing methods are still in its
infancy.
Conclusion • Medicinal mushrooms are a gift from nature that
contain biologically active metabolites that are used as support remedies for cancer treatments and other ailments.
• There is further need to develop technology for the conservation of medicinal mushrooms.
APPENDIX
References