Abstract
The accumulated secondary metabolites in medicinal mushrooms have been widely accepted as sources of safe and effective nutraceuticals, cosmeceuticals, and pharmaceuticals. Medicinal and edible mushrooms are foods appreciated for their exquisite flavor and medicinal properties. The nutritional values and biologically active compounds in mushrooms have immense potentials for producing new drugs of great health benefits to mankind. In recent times, medicinal mushrooms are being exploited for new and natural compounds that could modulate immune cell’s response, and possess antimicrobial, antioxidants, and anticancer properties. In Nigeria, where there is vegetation that supports the luxuriant growth of varieties of naturally occurring macrofungi, some of the wild macrofungi have not been properly identified, adequately studied, and fully harnessed for their potentials as food and medicine. It is therefore pertinent to bring to limelight the nutraceutical potentials of some of these wild macrofungi that are currently underutilized.
Highlights
Medicinal and edible mushrooms are mostly found in the higher basidiomycetes, and they usually have a saprophytic and aerobic growth habit, which allows them to grow on different lignocellulosic materials [1]
Phylogenetic analysis using Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) sequence information derived from mitochondrial Small Subunit (SSU) rDNA has helped to clarify our understanding of the relationships among Ganoderma species
Lentinus edodes, and Grifola frondosa possess bioactive substances that inhibit the activity of aromatase—an enzyme involved in estrogen production, which is a prime reason for breast cancer in the woman after menopause [71]
Summary
Medicinal and edible mushrooms are mostly found in the higher basidiomycetes, and they usually have a saprophytic and aerobic growth habit, which allows them to grow on different lignocellulosic materials [1]. The Basidiomycetes make up a colossal variety of fungi Their taxonomic determination has been controversial and sometime challenging due to limited distinguishing characters and disagreement in features characteristics to be adopted for separating the different species [4]. DNA techniques for the identification of fungi have been widely used in human and veterinary medicine; it is rapid and displays the accurate identity of pathogenic fungi in order to select appropriate treatment. They have been applied to food quality control for the detection of contaminants [7]. Conventional mycologists rely on a number of macroscopic and microscopic features of the fruit body to distinguish between macrofungi species [5]
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