Scientists Work Out How To Grow Zombie Mushrooms In A Lab — It Could Help Unlock New Virus-Fighting, Anti-Cancer Drugs

Scientists Work Out How To Grow Zombie Mushrooms In A Lab — It Could Help Unlock New Virus-Fighting, Anti-Cancer Drugs

Share to Linkedin A team of scientists from Korea and Egypt have discovered a better way to grow insect-hunting fungi in a lab, according to research published Wednesday in Frontiers in Microbiology, a breakthrough that could pave the way to investigating a new range of cancer- and virus-fighting treatments. Scientists (not pictured) have discovered a better way to grow Cordyceps fungi in the lab. Research suggests Cordyceps fungi, particularly a chemical compound found in the mushroom called cordycepin, have many possible health benefits—including potential antiviral and cancer-fighting properties—though their rarity in the wild and difficulties cultivating them make it hard to produce and test at scale. The fungi can be grown using grains like brown rice but they do not produce much cordycepin, prompting the researchers to suggest insects—which are a richer protein source and the fungi target in nature—as a better alternative. Tests on a variety of edible insects including mealworms, crickets and grasshoppers revealed this to be the case and study author Dr. Mi Kyeong Lee said Cordyceps grown on edible insects "contained approximately 100 times more cordycepin compared" to fungi grown on brown rice. Though levels of cordycepin varied by what insect the fungi consumed, the researchers