For centuries, macrofungi have been used as food and medicine in different parts of the world. This is mainly attributed to their nutritional value as a potential source of carbohydrates, proteins, amino acids, and minerals. In addition, they also include many bioactive metabolites which make mushrooms and truffles common components in folk medicine, especially in Africa, the Middle East, China, and Japan. The reported medicinal effects of mushrooms include anti-inflammatory effects, with anti-inflammatory compounds of mushrooms comprising a highly diversified group in terms of their chemical structure. They include polysaccharides, terpenoids, phenolic compounds, and many other low molecular weight molecules. The aims of this review are to report the different types of bioactive metabolites and their relevant producers, as well as the different mechanisms of action of mushroom compounds as potent anti-inflammatory agents.

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Mushrooms: A Potential Natural Source of Anti-Inflammatory Compounds for Medical Applications

The biochemistry and biological properties of the world's most expensive underground edible mushroom: Truffles

Antioxidant components and antioxidant/antiradical activities of desert truffle (Tirmania nivea) from various Middle Eastern origins

Ethnomycological aspects of the desert truffle among native Bahraini and non-Bahraini peoples of the Kingdom of Bahrain

Among the ascomyces truffles, there are several genera with an excellent record as edible fungi, and two of these are of considerable economic importance: Terfezia and Tuber. Of these two genera, only Tuber had been cultivated commercially (for decades), until now. More recently, biotechnological methods on fungal inoculum and mycorrhizal plant production, as well as plantation management, have been developed to cultivate, for the first time, some species of the Terfezia genus (Honrubia et al. 2001, 2005; Morte et al. 2004, 2006). These procedures are presented in this chapter. Here, we attempt to evaluate conclusions on the basis of recent truffle production data from the first field plantations. The genus Terfezia belongs to the so-called “desert truffles” which are a complex family of mycorrhizal hypogeous fungi, mainly containing species of the genera Terfezia, Picoa, Tirmania and Tuber. Their geographical distribution is limited to arid and semiarid lands, mostly in countries around the Mediterranean basin, such as: southern Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Hungary, Turkey, from Morocco to Egypt, Israel, the Arabian Peninsula, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Kuwait. In addition, some desert truffle species have been found in South Africa (Botswana) (Marasas and Trappe 1973), in North America and Japan (Trappe and Sundberg 1977), and China (Wang, unpublished data). Generally, the regions where desert truffles grow have an annual rainfall which ranges from 50 to 380 mm. The truffle season produces good yields if the rainfall ranges from 70 to 120 mm in North African countries and from 100 to 350 mm in countries of southern Europe. The rainfall distribution is very important as far as both quantity and the time of the rainfall are concerned; that is, no later than the beginning of December in North African and Middle Eastern countries and no later than the beginning of October in countries of southern Europe.

Biotechnology and Cultivation of Desert Truffles

OBJECTIVES 
To investigate the antibacterial activities of aqueous and methanolic extracts, as well as, partially purified proteins extracted from Terfezia claveryi aqueous, against Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa).
 METHODS 
Five percent of the aqueous and methanolic extracts were added to growth medium of P. aeruginosa. The extract that caused growth inhibition (aqueous) was then partially purified using ammonium sulfate precipitation, gel chromatography and ion exchange chromatography. Antibacterial activities of the obtained fractions were assessed using agar-well diffusion test, and then all the results were compared with reference antibiotics. Excremental procedures were performed at the Department of Nutrition and Food Technology and the animal house of Jordan University of Science and Technology, Jordan during the year 2000.
 RESULTS 
Five percent aqueous extract inhibited the growth of P. aeruginosa by 40.9%, while methanolic extract was ineffective. Partial purification of the aqueous extract using ammonium sulfate precipitation revealed that antimicrobial activity was within the second pellet (25-45%). This fraction was then subjected to gel permeation chromatography using Sephadex G-25. Peak one, of the 2 peaks obtained, possessed higher antimicrobial activity. Peak one was then subjected to ion exchange chromatography using DEAE Sephadex. Only peak one, of the 3 peaks obtained, showed a slight antimicrobial activity. Relative antimicrobial activities of these fractions were found to be superior to most of reference antibiotics used for comparison.
 CONCLUSIONS 
Aqueous extract of the truffle Terfezia claveryi contains a potent antimicrobial agent that is protein in nature and may be used in the treatment of eye infections caused by P. aeruginosa.

Abdul-Karim J. Sallal

Papers

Evaluation of antibacterial activity of aqueous and methanolic extracts of the truffle Terfezia claveryi against Pseudomonas aeruginosa.