In a study published in Frontiers in Microbiology, Professor Mi Kyeong Lee of Chungbuk National University and her team, including Dr Ayman Turk have developed a way to grow the fungi in a stable manner in labs, thereby paving the way to develop the same as an anti-cancer drug.
What are Cordyceps mushroom?
Cordyceps is a fungus that lives on certain caterpillars in the high mountain regions of China.
Over the years Cordyceps have been used to treat coughs, chronic bronchitis, respiratory disorders, kidney disorders, nighttime urination, male sexual problems, anemia, irregular heartbeat, high cholesterol, liver disorders, dizziness, weakness, ringing in the ears, unwanted weight loss, and opium addiction.
The Cordyceps mushroom is well known for its gruesome eating habits: it is well-known that its spores kill insects by infecting them, and the dead insects' flesh sprouts fully developed fruiting bodies of the Cordyceps fungus.
How Cordyceps helps treating cancer?
Investigations revealed that the insect's fat content--specifically, its high levels of oleic acid, which may be required for cordycepin synthesis--was the key to producing cordycepin, not its protein content. The amount of cordycepin produced by the Cordyceps fed on a poor-performing insect meal increased by 50% with the addition of oleic acid.
These findings provide encouragement for scientists looking for novel treatments for debilitating diseases, as the medicinal potential of cordyceps mushrooms is hindered by the challenge of manufacturing cordycepin in the lab. We can use the strength of these extremely hungry Cordyceps to accelerate the discovery of new drugs if we know what to feed them.
Understanding the experiment
Typically, cordyceps is grown in a lab using grains like brown rice. However, when cordycepin was extracted from Cordyceps grown on grains, the levels were incredibly low. Scientists surmised that this was because the protein content of the grains was insufficient to feed the Cordyceps.
Therefore, Lee and her colleagues cultured Cordyceps for two months and then harvested them to explore the outcomes using crickets, silkworm pupae, mealworms, grasshoppers, white-spotted flower chafer larvae, and Japanese rhinoceros beetles.
There were noticeable disparities in the growth rates of the Cordyceps on the various insect foods: it thrived best on mealworms and silkworm pupae and did poorly on chafer larvae and grasshoppers.
Notably, the Cordyceps cultivated on Japanese rhinoceros beetles didn't grow as big, but they produced the highest levels of cordycepin--34 times more than the levels produced on the worst-performing silkworm pupae.
"Cordyceps grown on edible insects contained approximately 100 times more cordycepin compared to Cordyceps on brown rice," said Lee.
(With inputs from ANI)
