Medicinal uses of fungi

Compounds successfully developed into drugs or under research include those treating infection with amoeba, bacteria, fungus, virus, inhibitors of cholesterol and ergosterol synthesis, and psychotropics.

[1] Inonotus obliquus was used in folk medicine tumor treatment in Russia and Northern Europe during the 16th century .

[2] The ability to identify beneficial properties and then extract the active ingredient from mold started with the discovery of penicillin [1] from Penicillium rubens [3] by Alexander Fleming, September 1928.

[22][23] Psychoactive ergot alkaloid drugs have subsequently been extracted from or synthesised starting from ergot; these include ergotamine, dihydroergotamine, ergometrine, ergocristine, ergocryptine, ergocornine, methysergide, bromocriptine, cabergoline, and pergolide.

[25][26][27] Fungi are a source of ergosterol which can be converted to vitamin D2 upon exposure to ultraviolet light.

[28][29][30] The yeast Saccharomyces is used industrially to produce the amino acid lysine, as well as recombinant proteins insulin and hepatitis B surface antigen.