Fungi are an understudied, biotechnologically valuable group of organisms. Due to 
the immense range of habitats that fungi inhabit, and the consequent need to compete against a diverse array of other fungi, bacteria, and animals, fungi have developed numerous survival mechanisms. The unique attributes of fungi thus herald great promise for their application in biotechnology and industry. Moreover, fungi can be grown with relative ease, making production at scale viable. The search for fungal biodiversity, and the construction of a living fungi collection, both have incredible economic potential in locating organisms with novel industrial uses that will lead to novel products. This manuscript reviews fifty ways in which fungi can potentially be utilized as biotechnology. We provide notes and examples for each potential exploitation and give examples from our own work and the work of other notable researchers. We also provide a flow chart that can be used to convince funding bodies of the importance of fungi for biotechnological research and as potential products. Fungi have provided the world with penicillin, lovastatin, and other globally significant medicines, and they remain an untapped resource with enormous industrial potential.

The amazing potential of fungi: 50 ways we can exploit fungi industrially

https://digital.library.adelaide.edu.au/dspace/bitstream/2440/102889/2/hdl_102889.pdf

Tissue invasion and metastasis: Molecular, biological and clinical perspectives.

Cordycepin: a bioactive metabolite with therapeutic potential.

Nucleoside, nucleotide, and base analogs have been in the clinic for decades to treat both viral pathogens and neoplasms. More than 20% of patients on anticancer chemotherapy have been treated with one or more of these analogs. This review focuses on the chemical synthesis and biology of anticancer nucleoside, nucleotide, and base analogs that are FDA-approved and in clinical development since 2000. We highlight the cellular biology and clinical biology of analogs, drug resistance mechanisms, and compound specificity towards different cancer types. Furthermore, we explore analog syntheses as well as improved and scale-up syntheses. We conclude with a discussion on what might lie ahead for medicinal chemists, biologists, and physicians as they try to improve analog efficacy through prodrug strategies and drug combinations.

Metabolism, Biochemical Actions, and Chemical Synthesis of Anticancer Nucleosides, Nucleotides, and Base Analogs

Exploration of natural sources for novel bioactive compounds has been an emerging field of medicine over the past decades, providing drugs or lead compounds of considerable therapeutic potential. This research has provided exciting evidence on the isolation of microbe-derived metabolites having prospective biological activities. Mushrooms have been valued as traditional sources of natural bioactive compounds for many centuries and have been targeted as promising therapeutic agents. Many novel biologically active compounds have been reported as a result of research on medicinal mushrooms. In this review, we compile the information on bioactive structure-elucidated metabolites from macrofungi discovered over the last decade and highlight their unique chemical diversity and potential benefits to novel drug discovery. The main emphasis is on their anti-Alzheimer, anti-diabetic, anti-malarial, anti-microbial, anti-oxidant, anti-tumor, anti-viral and hypocholesterolemic activities which are important medicinal targets in terms of drug discovery today. Moreover, the reader’s attention is brought to focus on mushroom products and food supplements available in the market with claimed biological activities and potential human health benefits.

Ruth Duffin

Papers

Cordycepin inhibits protein synthesis and cell adhesion through effects on signal transduction.