Question

Short / Long answer type questions.
Name some fungi which are edible, those which yield drugs, and those which find favour with the geneticists

Answer 1

Edible fungi are the mushroom which are the fleshy and edible fruit bodies of several species of macrofungi which bear fruiting structures that are large enough to be seen with the naked eye. Some edible fungi are Agaricus arvensis (Horse Mushroom), Agaricus silvaticus (Pinewood Mushroom), Amanita caesarea (Caesar's Mushroom), Armillaria mellea, Boletus badius (Bay Bolete).

Fungi that yield drugs are:

i. Tolypocladium inflatum Gams which yields the immunosuppressant ciclosporin is an immunosuppressant medication and natural product. It is taken by mouth or injection into a vein for rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis.

ii. Ustilago maydis synthesizes ustilagine and ustilagic acid.

iii. Schizophyllum commune has yielded schizophyllan (SPG, sizofiran, sonifilan).

Yeasts and filamentous fungi are extensively used as model organisms for eukaryotic genetic research, including cell cycle regulation, chromatin structure, genetic recombination, and gene regulation.