# Medicinal uses of fungi

Medicinal fungi are fungi that contain metabolites or can be induced to produce metabolites through biotechnology to develop prescription drugs. 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.

## History

In Ancient Egypt moldy bread was applied to wound infection.
Inonotus obliquus was used in folk medicine tumor treatment in Russia and Northern Europe during the 16th century .
Hallucinogenic mushrooms include Amanita muscaria, the fly agaric and "magic mushrooms", which contain psilocybin and psilocin.
The ability to identify beneficial properties and then extract the active ingredient from mold started with the discovery of penicillin from Penicillium rubens by Alexander Fleming, September 1928. Scientific investigation into pharmacological applications of mushrooms began during the 1960s.

## Nutritional supplements

Lysine is produced from Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
Riboflavin is produced from Candida famata and Ashbya gossypii.
Pichia fermentans is a source of astaxanthin, β-carotene, and lutein.
L-phenylalanine is produced from Rhodotorula glutinis.
Fungi are a source of ergosterol which can be converted to vitamin D$_2$ upon exposure to ultraviolet light.

## Drug development
### Amebicides

Fumagillin was isolated in 1949 from Aspergillus fumigatus.
Transgenic yeasts are used to produce artemisinin.

### Antibacterial agents (antibiotics)

Pleuromutilin was discovered as an antibiotic in 1951. It is derived from Omphalina mutila (formerly Pleurotus mutilus) and Clitopilus passeckerianus (formerly Pleurotus passeckerianus). Cephalosporins were first sold in 1964, the mold which yielded cephalosporin C was first discovered by Giuseppe Brotzu in July 1945. Citromycin from Penicillium was discovered in 1969. Oudemansin A from Oudemansiella mucida was first described in 1979. Plectasin from Pseudoplectania nigrella was discovered in 2005.

### Cancer

As of 2022, there is not enough scientific evidence to indicate that any mushroom or mushroom extract is effective for reducing the risk of cancer.

### Cholesterol biosynthesis inhibitors

Statins are an important class of cholesterol-lowering drugs; the first generation of statins were derived from fungi. Lovastatin, the first commercial statin, was extracted from a fermentation broth of Aspergillus terreus. Industrial production is now capable of producing 70 mg lovastatin per kilogram of substrate.

### Diabetes

Transgenic yeasts are used to produce insulin analogs.
Moniliella pollinis is used industrially to produce erythritol.

### Antifungals

Griseofulvin is derived from a number of Penicillium species; caspofungin is derived from Glarea lozoyensis.

### Psychotropic effects

The history of bread-making records deadly ergotism caused by ergot, most commonly Claviceps purpurea, a parasite of cereal crops. 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.

### Antivirals

Brefeldin A was first isolated from Penicillium decumbens in 1958 at Purdue University.
Saccharomyces and hepatitis B surface antigen. Transgenic yeasts are used to produce artemisinin.