Bioactive proteins from mushrooms.

Xiaofei Xu, Huidan Yan, Jian Chen, Xuewu Zhang

Journal: Biotechnology advances 2012;29(6):667-74

PMID: 21605654

Full Text on Elsevier Science View on PubMed

Abstract

Mushrooms have been used as food or medicine for thousands of years. Due to low-fat content and absence of cholesterol, many mushrooms are excellent sources of protein. There are various mushroom proteins with interesting biological activities, such as lectins, fungal immunomodulatory proteins (FIP), ribosome inactivating proteins (RIP), ribonucleases, laccases, and other proteins, which have become popular sources of natural antitumor, antiviral, antimicrobial, antioxidative, and immunomodulatory agents. The aim of this review is to update the present status of bioactive proteins in mushrooms, and to discuss their biomedical potential and future prospectives.

Address: College of Light Industry and Food Sciences, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China.

DOI: 10.1016/j.biotechadv.2011.05.003