Evaluation of the Bio-chemical Markers in Selected Edible Wood Rotting Macrofungi

Abstract

The search for natural products that has therapeutic properties with little or no side effects has been the main subject around the world. Different plants have been and are being explored for their medicinal properties. However, higher fungi remain a vast and a large source of new pharmaceutical products yet to be explored. The phyto-constituents in the ethanolic extract of Six edible wood rotten fungi were investigated by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis. The results showed that a total of 25 phyto-constituents were revealed in Ganoderma lucidum and Pleurotus florida while 17 compounds were revealed in Pleurotus eryngii and Pleurotus pulmonarius. Pleurotus ostreatus and Pleurotus sajor-caju recorded 31 and 30 phyto-constituents respectively. Some constituents were common to all the fungi while some were absent in some fungi. Generally, most of them occurred in trace amount while a few of the constituents occurred in large amount. Some bioactive compounds such as Methyl stearate, Hexadecanoic acid, methyl ester, (Z)-, Hexadecanoic acid, ethyl ester, 11,14-Octadecadienoic acid, methyl ester and 9-Octadecenoic acid methyl ester were common to all the fungi extract. Four of the fungi had cholesterol content which was however in trace amount of 1.37%, 1.22%, 1.16% and 0.68% for G. lucidum, P. eryngii, P. ostreatus and P. pulmonarius respectively. Of the compounds, 9-Octadecenoic acid, methyl ester, (E)- had the highest concentration of 35.08% in P. pulmonarius. This was closely followed by 11,14-Octadecadienoic acid methyl ester also in P. pulmonarius. Although, the concentration varied across the fungi extracts. The bio-active components in these fungi species could serve as a lead for development of novel natural products with therapeautic properties.

Description

The conference was held by the Forestry Association, Katsina

Keywords

Natural products, Wood rotters, Bioactive compounds, Fatty acids, Linoleic acids

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