Ganoderma is a genus of polypore fungi in the family Ganodermataceae that includes about 80 species, many from tropical regions. [1] They have a high genetic diversity and are used in traditional Asian medicines. Ganoderma can be differentiated from other polypores because they have a double-walled basidiospore. They may be called shelf mushrooms or bracket fungi.
Ganoderma are characterized by basidiocarps that are large, perennial, woody brackets also called "conks". They are lignicolous and leathery either with or without a stem. The fruit bodies typically grow in a fan-like or hoof-like form on the trunks of living or dead trees. They have double-walled, truncate spores with yellow to brown ornamented inner layers.
The genus Ganoderma was established as a genus in 1881 by Karsten and included only one species, G. lucidum (Curtis) Karst. [2] Previously, this taxon was characterized as Boletus lucidus Curtis (1781) and then Polyporus lucidus (Curtis) Fr. (1821) (Karsten 1881). The species P. lucidus was characterized by having a laccate (shiny or polished) pileus and stipe, and this is a character that Murrill suspected was the reason for Karsten's division because only one species was included, G. lucidum . [3] Patouillard revised Karsten's genus Ganoderma to include all species with pigmented spores, adhering tubes and laccate crusted pilei, which resulted with a total of 48 species classified under the genus Ganoderma in his 1889 monograph. [4] [3] [5] Until Murrill investigated Ganoderma in North America in 1902, previous work had focused solely on European species including, for example, G. lucidum, G. resinaceum Boud. (1890) and G. valesiacum Boud. (1895). [6] [7] [3]
The genus was named by Karsten in 1881. [12] Members of the family Ganodermataceae were traditionally considered difficult to classify because of the lack of reliable morphological characteristics, the overabundance of synonyms, and the widespread misuse of names. [13] [14] Until recently, the genus was divided into two sections – Ganoderma, with a shiny cap surface (like Ganoderma lucidum ), and Elfvingia, with a dull cap surface (like G. applanatum ).
Phylogenetic analysis using DNA sequence information have helped to clarify our understanding of the relationships amongst Ganoderma species. [15] [16] The genus may now be divided into six monophyletic groups: [17]
With the rise of molecular phylogenies in the late 20th century, species concept hypotheses were tested to determine the relatedness amongst the nuanced morphological variabilities of the laccate Ganoderma taxa. In 1995, Moncalvo et al constructed a phylogeny of the rDNA, which was the universally accepted locus at that time, and found five major clades of the laccate species amongst the 29 isolates tested. [18] It turned out that G. lucidum was not a monophyletic species, and further work needed to be done to clarify this taxonomic problem. They also found that G. resinaceum from Europe, and the North American 'G. lucidum', which Adaskaveg and Gilbertson found to be biologically compatible in vitro, did not cluster together. [18] [19] Moncalvo et al. reject biological species complexes as a sole tool to distinguish a taxon, and suggested using a combination between biological and phylogenetic species concepts to define unique Ganoderma taxa. [19] [18]
In 1905, American mycologist William Murrill delineated the genus Tomophagus to accommodate the single species G. colossus (then known as Polyporus colossus) which had distinctive morphological features that did not fit in with the other species. [20] Historically, however, Tomophagus has generally been regarded as a synonym for Ganoderma. [21] Nearly a century later, phylogenetic analyses vindicated Murrill's original placement, as it has shown to be a taxonomically distinct appropriate genus. [17]
The name Ganoderma is derived from the Greek ganos/γάνος "brightness, sheen", hence "shining" and derma/δέρμα "skin". [22] [ citation needed ]
Some Ganoderma species can cause major long-term crop losses, especially with trees:
Ganoderma are wood-decaying fungi with a cosmopolitan distribution. They can grow on both coniferous and hardwood species. They are white-rot fungi with enzymes that allow them to break down wood components, such as lignin and cellulose. There has been significant research interest on the wood-degrading enzymes of Ganoderma species for industrial applications, such as biopulping [24] [25] and bioremediation. [26]
For centuries, Ganoderma species have been used in traditional medicine in many parts of Asia. [27] These species are often mislabeled as 'G. lucidum', although genetic testing has shown this to be multiple species such as G. sichuanense (=G. lingzhi), and G. multipileum. [28] [29] Several species of Ganoderma contain diverse phytochemicals with undefined properties in vivo, such as triterpenoids and polysaccharides, an area of investigation under basic research. [27]
Although various Ganoderma species are used in traditional medicine for supposed benefits and have been investigated for their potential effects in humans, there is no evidence from high-quality clinical research that Ganoderma as a whole mushroom or its phytochemicals has effects in humans, such as in treating cancer. [30]
The Polyporales are an order of about 1800 species of fungi in the division Basidiomycota. The order includes some polypores as well as many corticioid fungi and a few agarics. Many species within the order are saprotrophic, most of them wood-rotters. Some genera, such as Ganoderma and Fomes, contain species that attack living tissues and then continue to degrade the wood of their dead hosts. Those of economic importance include several important pathogens of trees and a few species that cause damage by rotting structural timber. Some of the Polyporales are commercially cultivated and marketed for use as food items or in traditional Chinese medicine.
Polypores are a group of fungi that form large fruiting bodies with pores or tubes on the underside. They are a morphological group of basidiomycetes-like gilled mushrooms and hydnoid fungi, and not all polypores are closely related to each other. Polypores are also called bracket fungi or shelf fungi, and they characteristically produce woody, shelf- or bracket-shaped or occasionally circular fruiting bodies that are called conks.
Lingzhi, Ganoderma sichuanense, also known as reishi or Ganoderma lingzhi is a polypore fungus native to East Asia belonging to the genus Ganoderma.
The Polyporaceae are a family of poroid fungi belonging to the Basidiomycota. The flesh of their fruit bodies varies from soft to very tough. Most members of this family have their hymenium in vertical pores on the underside of the caps, but some of them have gills or gill-like structures. Many species are brackets, but others have a definite stipe – for example, Polyporus badius.
Ganoderma lucidum, commonly known as the reishi, varnished conk, or ling chih, is a red-colored species of Ganoderma with a limited distribution in Europe and parts of China, where it grows on decaying hardwood trees. Wild populations have been found in the United States in California and Utah but were likely introduced anthropogenically and naturalized.
Ganoderic acids are a class of closely related triterpenoids found in Ganoderma mushrooms. For thousands of years, the fruiting bodies of Ganoderma fungi have been used in traditional medicines in East Asia. Consequently, there have been efforts to identify the chemical constituents that may be responsible for the putative pharmacological effects. The two most well described ganoderic acids out of the many that have been identified and characterized are ganoderic acids A and B. Some ganoderic acids have been found to possess biological activities including hepatoprotection, anti-tumor effects, and 5-alpha reductase inhibition.
Ganoderma brownii is a species of polypore fungus in the Ganodermataceae family. It is a plant pathogen and occasional saprotroph similar in appearance to Ganoderma applanatum. This species is restricted geographically to the Pacific Northwest, primarily observed in California. In the San Francisco Bay Area, it is very common on Umbellularia californica.
Ganoderma tsugae, also known as hemlock varnish shelf, is a flat polypore mushroom of the genus Ganoderma.
The Ganodermataceae are a family of fungi in the order Polyporales. As of April 2018, Index Fungorum accepts 8 genera and 300 species in the family. The family was circumscribed by Dutch mycologist Marinus Anton Donk in 1948 to contain polypores with a double spore wall. The inner wall is verruculose to ornamented, thickened and usually coloured, while the outer wall is thin and hyaline.
Amauroderma is a genus of polypore fungi in the family Ganodermataceae. The genus, widespread in tropical areas, contains about 70 species. Amauroderma fungi are wood-decay fungi that feed and fruit on decayed branches and trunks.
Bjerkandera is a genus of wood-rotting fungi in the family Meruliaceae.
Datronia is a genus of poroid crust fungi in the family Polyporaceae. The genus was circumscribed by Marinus Anton Donk in 1966, with Datronia mollis as the type species. Datronia fungi cause a white rot in hardwoods. Datronia contains six species found in northern temperate areas. The most recent addition, Datronia ustulatiligna, was described in 2015 from Himachal Pradesh in India.
Tyromyces is a genus of poroid fungi in the family Polyporaceae. It was circumscribed by mycologist Petter Karsten in 1881. The type species is the widely distributed Tyromyces chioneus, commonly known as the white cheese polypore. The phylogenetic position of Tyromyces within the Polyporales is uncertain, but it appears that it does not belong to the "core polyporoid clade". Tyromyces is polyphyletic as it is currently circumscribed, and has been described as "a dumping place for monomitic white-rot species with thin-walled spores."
Lingzhi may refer to:
Ganoderma curtisii is a wood-decaying polypore whose distribution is primarily in the Southeastern United States. Craig and Levetin claim to have observed it in Oklahoma.
Picipes badius, commonly known as the black-footed polypore or black-leg, is a species of fungus in the family Polyporaceae. It causes a white rot of hardwoods and conifers. The species is found in temperate areas of Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America. It has a dark brown or reddish-brown cap that reaches a diameter of 25 cm (9.8 in), and a stipe that is often completely black or brown at the top and black at the base.
Ganoderma sessile is a species of polypore fungus in the Ganodermataceae family. There is taxonomic uncertainty with this fungus since its circumscription in 1902.
Tomophagus is a Basidiomycete bracket-fungus genus in the family Ganodermataceae. The type species Tomophagus colossus, from the tropical Americas and Africa, has now been placed in the genus Ganoderma.
Anjali Roy was an eminent Indian mycologist and academician. The fungus genus Royoporus is named in her honour.
Ganoderma oregonense is a species of bracket fungus that causes root and butt white rot in conifers in northwestern coastal North America, including California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, Yukon, and Alaska. G. oregonense is very similar to Ganoderma tsugae, but G. tsugae is associated with east coast Tsuga (hemlock) rather than west coast conifer. Its been speculated that G. oregonense and G. tsugae might actually be one species, but mycologists just don't know for sure yet.
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