New and Future Developments in Microbial Biotechnology and Bioengineering

Microbial Secondary Metabolites Biochemistry and Applications

Vijai G. Gupta, Anita Pandey

• Publisher: Elsevier
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9780444635112
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Pharmacology

New and Future Developments in Microbial Biotechnology and Bioengineering: Microbial Secondary Metabolites Biochemistry and Applications examines the areas of biotechnology and chemical engineering, covering aspects of plants, bacteria and machines, and using microbes as factories. The book is aimed at undergraduates, post-graduates and researchers studying microbial secondary metabolites, and is an invaluable reference source for biochemical engineers working in biotechnology, manipulating microbes, and developing new uses for bacteria and fungi. The applications of secondary metabolites in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, diagnostics and medical device development are also extensively covered.

The book integrates the aforementioned frontline branches into an interdisciplinary research work to satisfy those working in biotechnology, chemical engineering, alternative fuel development, diagnostics and pharmaceuticals. Chapters related to important research work on applications of microbial secondary metabolites are written by specialists in the various disciplines from the international community.

• Compiles the latest developments in the area of microbial secondary metabolites
• Authored by the top international researchers in this area
• Includes information related to nearly all areas of a microbial secondary metabolites system

Chapter 1

Wild Mushrooms as Functional Foods: The Significance of Inherent Perilous Metabolites

Madhusmita Borthakur and S.R. Joshi, Microbiology Laboratory, Department of Biotechnology & Bioinformatics, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong, Meghalaya, India

Abstract

Mushrooms have always attracted the attention of ethnic tribes from different communities as a source for generating a livelihood. They are known as priceless resources for generating various important biomolecules which have commercial applications in medicine, the food industry, and bioanthropology, although at present less than 10% of the currently known mushrooms are responsible for these biomolecules. At this phase of globalization, when people are engaged with organic or fresh cultivated foodstuffs, a section of the population which depends on the nontimber forest products for their livelihood are often the victims of poisonous mushrooms which mimic their edible counterparts. Mushrooms are considered to be highly nutritious with enormous medicinal value. However, their bioprospection and commercial exploitation are very limited as compared to other life forms, which may be due to the limited information available on their nutritional and health effects, and genetic variability. Proteins and polysaccharides comprise the main components of their dry matter. Mushrooms being high in their fiber content, less fat content, widely dispersed in the meadows with both poisonous and non-poisonous nature have attracted both the researchers and the consumers to mushrooms research as a source of functional foods.

Keywords

Ethnic community; Mushrooms; Toxicity; Nutrition; Functional food

Outline

• 1.1 Introduction 1
• 1.2 Mushroom and Its Taxonomy 2
• 1.3 The Toxins and Their Perilous Connections 3
• 1.4 Prospects and Concerns in Terms of Human Health 4
• 1.5 Mushrooms as Dietary Supplements 5
• 1.6 Protein Composition 7
• 1.7 Lipid Composition 8
• 1.8 Carbohydrates and Fiber content 8
• 1.9 Mineral Composition 9
• 1.10 Conclusion 9
• References 10

1.1 Introduction

There is geological evidence of the existence of mushrooms from the fossil record of the lower Cretaceous period about 130 million years ago [1]. Anthropological observations provide evidence of the use of mushrooms as a source of food or medicines by hunters or by food gatherers. Mushrooms were named “the plant of immortality” by the ancient Egyptians, some 4600 years ago, as it was a delicious cuisine favored by the royals. The first ever report of its consumption as a royal dish was written by a Greek philosopher, Theophrastus, during the period 372–287 BC. Mushrooms are widely accepted as a palatable food since ancient time in various countries including Greece, Russia, China, Mexico and Latin America. Mushrooms arrived in India through the northwest via Afghanistan to enter into the famous civilization, the Indus Valley [2]. Aryans throughout the Indus civilization put forward mushrooms as the plants in “Rig Veda” with hallucinogenic properties and they were used in various religious rituals. In ancient era, poisonous mushrooms were known to be as “soma”, where the tribe of the Indus valley was seen in harvesting and selling a poisonous Amanita muscaria for various ritutals [3]. The extract from poisonous mushrooms also known to be as “Somarasa” was used for various traditional rituals to induce the immune system in an immuno-compromised individual and also helped in getting the lost. This was somewhat responsible for the early ruin of the civilization. Mushrooms was used as hallucinogen and also for black magic in the ancient time due to its sudden appearance after rain without proper bud or fruiting body.

The word mushroom was named after the cultivation of the common button mushroom, Agaricus bisporus, with a stem (stalk), an umbrella shape cap (pileus), and gills (lamellae) underneath the cap. The term “macrofungi” was first coined for Basidiomycota and Agaricomycota with a defined fruiting body that can be either epigeous or hypogeous and is easily visible to the naked eye [4]. Being diverse, the Chinese refer to mushrooms as the “King of the Planet,” while the Japanese refer to the same as “The Diamond of the Forest.” Fungi has gained its importance in history by the documentation of dessert truffle (Terfezia arnenari) in the Bible as the “Bread of Heaven” and also as the “Manna of the Israelites” [5]. Formitopsis officinalis, a brown rotten fungus, is known as the “Bread of Ghosts” by the indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest and use it to mark the grave of Shamen and are known to treat illnesses caused by supernatural powers. They believe in mushroom sporophore for its spirit catching abilities. Apart from its spiritual beliefs, few mushrooms like Exobasidium vaccinii (Ears of Ghost) are known to infect stem, leaves, and flowers of Ericaceous plant and subsequently form basidia covered gills which are consumed by the indigenous coastal groups of Pacific Northwest who considered them to be berries [6]. Burk [7] reported the spiritual and religious use of puffball mushrooms by the people of North America who believed that they have the ability to ward off ghosts. In Asia the mycophilic societies are associated with the indigenous people of Northeast India, Western Ghats, and Northwest India and China. The local inhabitants collect mushrooms from their neighboring localities, meadows, and forests for consumption and sell them to earn revenue for their family during the monsoon season when other forest nonwood products are unavailable in the market. Among the various species of mushrooms which are commonly consumed by the people are Termitophilous spp., which include T. microcarpus, T. aurantiacus, T. eurhizus, T. clypeatus, and T. Tyleranus [8]. A few indigenous tribes of Northeast India, such as Khasis of Meghalaya, use a traditional technique called “narsuh” for cooking mushrooms, where they heat the tip of a small iron rod and place it in the middle of the bowl containing a cooked mushroom. They believe that the heat released from the tip is responsible for destroying or absorbing the poisonous harmful substances from the mushrooms [9]. The fruiting bodies are washed and boiled with a few cloves of garlic. If the cloves of garlic turn black in color, they believe that the mushrooms are poisonous ...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• List of Contributors
• Chapter 1. Wild Mushrooms as Functional Foods: The Significance of Inherent Perilous Metabolites
• Chapter 2. Genetic Manipulation of Secondary Metabolites Producers
• Chapter 3. Role of Rhizobacterial Secondary Metabolites in Crop Protection Against Agricultural Pests and Diseases
• Chapter 4. Bioengineering of Secondary Metabolites
• Chapter 5. Advances in Microbial Technology for Upscaling Sustainable Biofuel Production
• Chapter 6. Bioprospecting Actinobacteria for Bioactive Secondary Metabolites From Untapped Ecoregions of the Northwestern Himalayas
• Chapter 7. Microbial Metabolites: Peptides of Diverse Structure and Function
• Chapter 8. Agrobacterium rhizogenes Mediated Hairy Root Cultures: A Promising Approach for Production of Useful Metabolites
• Chapter 9. Unleashing Extremophilic Metabolites and Its Industrial Perspectives
• Chapter 10. Hybrid Bioactive Products and Combinatorion Biosynthesis
• Chapter 11. Rubromycins: A Class of Telomerase Inhibitor Antibiotics Produced by Streptomyces spp.
• Chapter 12. Regulation by Metal Ions
• Chapter 13. Citric Acid Cycle Regulation: Back Bone for Secondary Metabolite Production
• Chapter 14. Resistance in Pathogenic Microorganisms
• Chapter 15. Hybrid Approach for Transformation for Betulin (an Anti-HIV Molecule)
• Chapter 16. Producers of Bioactive Compounds
• Chapter 17. Bioremediation of Organic and Inorganic Pollutants Using Microalgae
• Chapter 18. Secondary Metabolites From Endophytic Fungi and Their Biological Activities
• Chapter 19. Regulation and Role of Metal Ions in Secondary Metabolite Production by Microorganisms
• Chapter 20. Metabolic Engineering to Synthetic Biology of Secondary Metabolites Production
• Chapter 21. Microbial Enzymes as Control Agents of Diseases and Pests in Organic Agriculture
• Chapter 22. Secondary Metabolites: Metabolomics for Secondary Metabolites
• Chapter 23. Solid-State Fermentation Strategy for Microbial Metabolites Production: An Overview
• Index