How to grow zombie fungus in the lab

of cordyceps Mushrooms, exotic fungi, grow by infecting insects with their spores. Spore uses the animal’s body as an all-you-can-eat buffet and eats meat. This parasitic relationship ends only when the spore reaches full growth and maturity, germinates and kills the host mercilessly. Despite its unorthodox but popular survival methods—cordyceps It’s the inspiration behind several post-apocalyptic movies and video games.Mushrooms have popular medicinal properties. have been attempted to reproduce in the laboratory. Using brown rice, an ly common worm substitute, has often been inadequate.

It turned out to be the best way to grow the elusive cordyceps Mushrooms lie on the backs of fatty insects and find new ones study published on wednesday The forefront of microbiologyCulturing this rare species of fungus may increase the availability of a bioactive compound called cordycepin, which boasts potential antiviral and antitumor properties.

“Cordycepin has various biological effects, such as anticancer and anti-inflammatory effects, and there are several aspects that must be considered for the treatment of disease,” said a professor of pharmacy at Chungbuk National University in South Korea. , explains Mi Kyeong Lee, senior author of the study. “In addition, cordyceps Mushrooms may be widely used for disease prevention by boosting immunity. ”

Lee got interested in fungi after searching for bioactive components in natural products. but, cordyceps Mushrooms are rare in nature, and when grown on brown rice, mushrooms produce very little cordycepin, probably due to the grain’s low protein content. cordyceps Mushrooms like to snack on insects, and the authors of the study hypothesized that they may prefer insects with high protein content. ,” says Lee.

In the new study, how did Lee and his team try to replicate cordyceps Mushrooms are grown in the wild with the goal of maximizing cordycepin levels. But first they need to know if the type of insect it eats matters.

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The team collected and exposed various types of insects to their spores, including crickets, silkworm pupae, grasshoppers, Japanese beetles, mealworms, and white-spotted flower chafer larvae. cordyceps mushroom. The fungus he grew for two months, the largest emerged from the silkworm pupae and the body of mealworms. Mushrooms that bloomed from chafer larvae and grasshoppers grew into the smallest mushrooms.

However, the size of the fungus is not related to the level of cordycepin. cordyceps Mushrooms sprouted from Japanese beetles were the richest in cordycepin compounds, containing nearly 100 times more cordycepin than those grown from brown rice. cordyceps Cordycepin cultured from Japanese beetles was 34-fold.

Scientists determined that it wasn’t the amount of protein that made the difference, but the fat content of the invertebrates. (For example, Japanese beetles had 10.8% oleic acid, whereas silkworms had only 0.4% oleic acid.)

In addition, genes involved in cordycepin production, cns1 and cns2, were found at higher levels in beetles than in other insects. Adding oleic acid to low-performing insects increased cordycepin levels by 50%.

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“Growing medicinal fungi in farmed insects is a more sustainable method than collecting these species in the wild,” he said. Nicholas P. Money, a mycologist at the University of Miami, Ohio, was not involved in the study.However, he warns that “the clinical benefits of the metabolites examined in this study”–referring to cordycepin–“remain a matter of faith, not science.” research Cordycepin may fight off viruses such as influenza and SARS-CoV-2 by acting as an inhibitor of viral replication and alleviating severe symptoms by reducing inflammation levels. However, evidence from preclinical and clinical studies to support these claims is lacking.

but improved supply cordycepsthe new study aims to provide, making it easier for researchers to study its therapeutic potential. It says to find the environment. cordyceps mushroom. His next study will test different plant species as alternative breeding grounds for the fungus to grow.