Book of Abstracts (PDF) - International Mycological Association

IMC7 Thursday August 15th Lectures
including isozymes and sequences of the ITS region of the
ribosomal DNA operon, the beta-tubulin gene and the
HMG box of the MAT-2 gene. Our recent data also show
that the Japanese isolates of C. laricicola represent a
distinct taxon. This is consistent with DNA-based
comparisons of its vectors, which are presently also viewed
as two separate species occurring in Europe and Asia.
Reciprocal inoculations in a number of experiments
including our own in central Europe, have shown that C.
polonica is preferentially pathogenic to spruce. In contrast,
C. laricicola is more pathogenic to larch than to spruce.
These and other studies comparing populations of isolates
using microsatellite markers, show that C. polonica and C.
laricicola represent discrete biological entities. They have
evidently evolved closely with their respective insect
vectors, on different host trees.
302 - Pleurotus species as medicinal mushrooms in
health care and nutrition
O.S. Isikhuemhen 1* , G. Goktepe 2 & J.V. Kumar 3
1 Department of Natural Resources & Environmental
Design, NC A&T State University, 1601 East Market
Street, Greensboro, NC 27411, U.S.A. - 2 Department of
Human Environment& Family Science, NC A&T State
University, 1601 East Market Street, Greensboro, NC
27411, U.S.A. - 3 Department of Chemistry, NC A&T State
University, 1601 East Market Street, Greensboro, NC
27411, U.S.A. - E-mail: omon@ncat.edu
Pleurotus mushrooms, popularly called oyster mushrooms
are distributed all over the world. Modern scientific
analysis has shown that Pleurotus mushrooms are rich in
proteins (especially those containing essential amino
acids), vitamins, essential fatty acids and minerals. In past
three decades in the United States of America, attention is
increasingly been drawn to the studies of oyster
mushrooms for its nutritional values and medicinal
benefits. There are reports on biologically active
compounds, lectin and different polysaccharides isolated
from oyster mushrooms that have been tested for their
medicinal effects. Polysaccharides from different oyster
mushroom have been shown to have 50-95% reduction in
cancel cell growth in vitro and animal models in some
cases. The scientific and clinical studies of the medicinal
properties of oyster mushrooms are still limited. Generally,
the problem of standardization and a uniform approach to
the studies on medicinal benefits of mushrooms also apply
to oyster mushrooms. This report is aimed at bringing to
light the traditional uses of oyster mushrooms and the
current state of knowledge on the scientific studies of
oyster mushrooms in food and medicine. The limitation in
methodology and approach to scientific studies and
application of oyster mushroom in nutrition and health care
delivery, as well as solutions and better approach to this
subject are discussed.
96
Book of Abstracts
303 - Pleurotus sporocarps - a hypocholesterolemic
nutraceutical?
N. Gunde-Cimerman 1* & A. Plemenitas 2
1 University of Ljubljana, Biotechnical Faculty, Biology
Dept., Veèna pot 111, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia. -
2 University of Ljubljana, MedicalFaculty, Institute of
Biochemistry, Vrazov trg 2, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia. -
E-mail: nina.gunde-cimerman@uni-lj.si
Coronary artery diseases and hypercholesterolaemia are the
main cause of morbidity in developed countries. The initial
step in their prevention and treatment is the modification of
the nutritional regime (diet low in fats and saturated fatty
acids; rich in crude fibers). The oyster mushrooms are a
good source of nonstarchy carbohydrates, have a very high
dietary fiber content and a low caloric value. Therefore
their hypolipidaemic efficiency was for a long time
attributed only to the interaction of crude fibers and
chitosan with bile acids in the small intestine, causing
increased excretion and reduced enterohepatal circulation
of bile acids and accelerating cholesterol catabolism by a
feedback mechanism. Later it was discovered that addition
of dried oyster mushroom to high cholesterol diet
effectively reduces cholesterol accumulations in the serum
and liver of rats, redistributes cholesterol in favour of high
density lipoprotein (HLDL) cholesterol, reduces production
of very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) and low density
lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol. It also reduces cholesterol
absorption and the activity in liver of the major rate
limiting enzyme in cholesterol biosynthesis pathway, 3hydroxy-3-methylglutary
CoA (HMG CoA) reductase. By
the combined action of crude fibers and specific inhibition
of HMG CoA reductase, a considerable reduction in VLDL
and LDL cholesterol levels can be explained.
304 - Antioxidant activity of several basidiomycete
mushrooms cultures
S.M. Badalyan 1* & A.V. Gasparyan 2
1 Yerevan State University, Department of Botany, 375025,
1 Aleg Manoogian St., Armenia. - 2 State Microbial
Depository Center, National Academy of Sciences Of
Armenia, 378510, Abovian city, Armenia. - E-mail:
badalians@infocom.am
The active metabolites of medicinal basidiomycete
mushrooms have different medicinal and preventive
properties. However, the data concerning their antioxidant
activity (AOA) is rare. The ability of mushroom-derived
compounds to prevent oxidative damage was observed
within cultures mostly from the genera Agaricus, Coprinus
and Ganoderma. The cultural liquid (CL) was proposed for
preventing cancer, nephritis, hypertension, and for delaying
senility. The higher peroxidase inhibition potential of
fungal melanin pigments was also reported. Mycelial
melanin is promising for elaboration of new biotechcompounds
with AOA. In our experiment 17 mushroom