For this assignment, do the following, using any RECENT resource, i.e., news abo

Question

For this assignment, do the following, using any RECENT resource, i.e., news about Fungi published within the last year:

3) Find an account of new information about any type of fungus that is somehow BENEFITING humans,

BE SURE to list the fungal species, the phylum to which it belongs, the specific type of effect it has, and, for the species other than human, name the species. The fungal species that you report do not have to be symbiotes, but it is perfectly acceptable to include symbiotes. Thus, each one of these four categories should be about a paragraph in length.

please DO NOT report on ANY of the folloeing fungal relationship: cheese, wine, beer making, soy sauce, bread, Mushrooms, morels, truffles or penicillin, lysergic acid, psilocybin, Ergotism  or  Diseases - In humans, athlete’s foot, “ringworm”, thrush, “yeast infection”, Histoplasmosis, and thses diseases in plants Dutch Elm disease, Chestnut Blight, corn smut, leaf rust.

Please include URL’s or relevant sources for all four postings, I would expect each will be a different article, so you should have at least four sources.

Explanation / Answer

At the beginning of the 21st century, Fungi were involved in the industrial processing of more than 10 of the 20 most profitable products used in human medicine. Two anti-cholesterol statins, the antibiotic penicillin and the immunosuppressant cyclosporin A are among the top 10.

Helpful:
1. Decompose dead organic matter to return nutrients to the ecosystem
2. Provide some food directly, like mushrooms
3. Used to produce or process other foods, like yeast for bread or alcohol, mold in blue cheese
4. Source of antibiotics

all fungus feed on dead and decaying matter.it secretes a juice and forms it into a solution this is so called as saprotrophic mode of nutrition and those organisims which follows saprotrophic mode of nutrition are known as saprotrophs.
for example-fungi like mushroom,yeast etc.

In detailed explanantion

Useful Activities of Fungi:

Directly or indirectly fungi are beneficial to human being. Fungi is used in medicine industry, as food, in food prepa­ration, in other industry and also in agricul­ture. Some of the useful activities are:

1. Preparation of Medicine:

Various kinds of fungi are used in the production of various kinds of medicine. The most important members are Penicillium notatum, Claviceps purpurea, Saccharo myces cerevisiae, Eremothemium ashbyii, Aspergillus proliferous etc.

(a) Antibiotic:

Antibiotics are the metabolic product of some micro­organisms which are active against other microorganism(s). Sir Alexander Fleming (1929) was the first who invented the wonder drug Penicillin from Penicillium nota­tum.

Later, Penicillin was also com­mercially produced from P. cryso­genum. Later on, other different types of antibiotics were isolated from different fungi. The list of some fungi along with their pro­duced antibiotics and range of activity are given above.

(b) Alkaloid:

Several alkaloids are produced and accumulated in the sclerotium of Claviceps purpurea which causes Ergot disease of rye. Out of several alkaloids, Ergo- metrine and its semisynthetic ana­logues like methyl ergometrine and methyl ergometrine maleate have prominent uterine action; those control haemorrhage of mother during child’s birth, having side- effect with increase in blood pres­sure and decreased milk secretion.

(c) Steroid:

Rheumatic arthritis, allergy and some other diseases are con­trolled by steroid. Many fungi have the capacity to synthesize different steroids. Steroid like cortisone is produced by Aspergillus niger from plant glycosides by fermentation.

(d) Vitamins:

Vitamins are the micronutrients required for the growth of living organisms. Vitamin B-complex, Vitamin A and Vitamin B-12 are found respectively from Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Rhodo- torula gracilis and Eremothemium ashbyii.

(e) Other Compounds:

An anticancerous substance, calvacin is present in the giant PuffbalI (Clavatia gigan- tea), that prevents stomach tumours. Similarly, fungi like Ganoderma lucdum have promising significant roles in anticancerous, anti HIV and antihepatitis-B diseases. The fungi like Coriolus versicolor have also anticancerous activity.

2. Food:

Fungi are used as food by humans from prehistoric period. Some fungi have been used directly as food and some are used in food processing:

(a) Direct Use:

Fruit bodies of some fungi, like Agaricus brunnescens, A. campestris, Volveriella volvacea, V diplasia, Pleurotus sajor-caju, Lentinus edodes etc. are used as food due to their high protein con­tent (21-30% on dry weight) and have good amount of lysine, an amino acid; minerals like Na, Ca, K and P; Vitamins like B, C, D and K and very little amount of fat.

These are recommended as ideal foods for heart and diabetic patients. The above fungi can also grow artifici­ally at commercial level.

(b) Used in Food Processing:

The nutri­tious food soyabean cannot be digested easily by human beings.

Soyabeans are fermented by fungi like Rhizopus oryzae, R. oligospo- rus to prepare an easily diges- table and tasty food known as “tempeh”.

Several Indian foods such as jalebies, idli, murcha, papadam and toddy, are actually the fermented products caused by several fungi like Saccharomyces bayanus for jalebies; Tricho- sporon pollulans and Torulopsis Candida for idli; Rhizopus arrhizus for murcha; Saccharomyces cerevisiae for papadam and toddy.

Fermentation by yeast, particularly by Rhodotorula and Saccharomyces, results in quick growth of the organism producing single cell protein (SCP). Because of high nucleic acid content, the fermented products are not suitable for human nutrition, but can be used as feed for animal.

3. Fungi in Industry:

Many fungi are used in the production of alcohol, bread, cheese, enzyme and organic acids.

Alcohol Production:

Alcoholic fermentation by fungi is the basis of brewing industry. The enzyme zymase of microorganisms like yeast is responsible for alcohol pro­duction.

The reaction is:

Wines are produced from grapes or other fruits by Saccharomyces ellipsoideus with about 14% alcohol concentration. Beer is brewed from bar­ley malt by Saccharomyces cerevisiae with 3-8% alcohol production.

Enzyme and Organic acid Production:

Many fungi are used in the commercial production of enzymes and different organic acids.

List of some fungi along with produced enzymes and/or acids and their uses are given:

4. Soil Fertility:

Decomposition of litter and wood, mainly in the forest, takes place by the combined action of diffe­rent type of fungi. Fungi like Fusarium, Chaetomium, Chitridium, Penicillium, Aspergillus etc., can decompose the structural polymers such as cellulose, hemicellulose, lipid, protein, starch etc.

The more recalcitrant (persistant) poly­mers like lignin are decomposed by white rot fungi of Basidiomycotina. By decomposing the organic matters, fungi help to increase minerals and other sub­stances, thereby the fertility of soil is increased.

5. Plant Nutrition:

Several fungal members like Rhizoctonia, Tricholoma, Boletus, Phallus, Amanita etc., associated with the roots of higher plants form mycorrhizal relationship. The fungal partner supplies water and minerals and in turn, they take nutrition from the plant.

6. Manufacture of Phytohormone:

Gibberellin, an important phytohormone produced by Gibberella fujikuroi, the pathogen of Bakanee disease of rice, has been used to enhance growth of many plants.

7. As Insecticide:

Fungi like Cordyceps melonthae, Aschersonia aleyroidis, Empusa sepulchralis etc., are used as insecticides to control different types of insects.

8. Biological Research:

Fungi like Neuros­pora, Yeast etc., have been used in genetical and cytological studies. Physarum polysephalum has been used to study DNA-synthesis and morpho­genesis.

9. Test Organism:

Some strains of Aspergillus niger have been used to detect trace elements like Zn, Cu, and Mo, even if the substances are present in very minute quantity in the substrate. These elements when absorbed by the fungus give a particular colour to the conidia. Similarly, Neurospora crassa has been used to detect Vitamin B com­plex.

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