Kinetics of methane production during anaerobic fermentation of chicken manure with sawdust and fungi pre-treated wheat straw.

The goal of this study was to determine the kinetic parameters of methane production during anaerobic fermentation of mixtures of chicken manure with sawdust and wheat straw overgrown with fungi. Pre-treatment of wheat straw was carried out with Pleurotus ostreatus and Trametes versicolor white-rot fungi. Mixtures of chicken manure with sawdust and wheat straw overgrown with fungi at different mass ratios (50:50, 60:40 and 80:20) were used as a substrate for anaerobic fermentation.

Heavy metal bioaccumulation by wild edible saprophytic and ectomycorrhizal mushrooms.

Heavy metals cause serious problems in the environment, and they can be accumulated in organisms, especially in the higher fungi. The concentration of Ni, Cr, Pb, Cd, and Hg in 10 species of edible mushrooms in Medvednica Nature Park, Croatia was therefore determined. In addition, the similarity between the studied species was determined by cluster analysis based on concentrations of the aforementioned metals in the fruiting bodies.

Influence of olive oil press cakes on Shiitake culinary-medicinal mushroom, lentinus edodes (Berk.) singer (higher basidiomycetes) fruiting bodies production and effect of their crude polysaccharides on CCRF-CEM cell proliferation.

Lentinus edodes (Berk.) Singer fruiting bodies were cultivated on substrates composed of beech sawdust, wheat bran, and calcium sulfate hemihydrate (gypsum), containing different proportions of olive oil press cakes (OOPC). We determined the influence of OOPC on fruiting bodies production and proliferation of CCRF-CEM leukemia cells.

Influence of Pleurotus ostreatus inoculation on wood degradation and fungal colonization.

The influence of Pleurotus ostreatus inoculation on wood degradation and on fungal community structure was studied. The experiments were performed on an organically poor fly ash deposit covered with a 10 cm layer of beech wood chips inoculated with P. ostreatus isolate ZIM76.

Cultivation and bioactivity assessment of Grifola frondosa fruiting bodies on olive oil press cakes substrates.

Grifola frondosa, a medicinal and edible mushroom, was cultivated on substrates composed of olive oil press cakes with different supplements. Crude extracts were prepared from mature fruiting bodies and tested for their capacity to stimulate splenocyte proliferation. Two wild-growing fruiting bodies were extracted for comparison.

The use of spent brewery grains for Pleurotus ostreatus cultivation and enzyme production.

In the brewing industry, spent brewery grains (SBGs) are byproducts with a low economic value. The potential use of this leftover as a substrate ingredient for Pleurotus ostreatus fruiting body cultivation and enzyme production was evaluated. The best substrate mixture for P.

Induction of fruiting in oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus) by polymeric 3-alkylpyridinium salts.

Polymeric 3-alkylpyridinium salts (poly-APS), surface-active compounds from the marine sponge Reniera sarai, have been shown to stimulate the fruit body formation from Pleurotus ostreatus mycelium. In nutrient media supplemented with poly-APS (>or= 0.01 microg ml(-1)), the formation of primordia and development of fruit bodies were detected approximately 10d earlier than in the absence of poly-APS, and also led to a considerably larger quantity of young mushrooms.

Influence of polymeric 3-alkylpyridinium salts from the marine sponge Reniera sarai on the growth of algae and wood decay fungi.

Polymeric alkylpyridinium salts (poly-APS) isolated from the marine sponge Reniera sarai act as antifouling and anticholinesterase agents. They also show moderate haemolytic and cytotoxic activities against different cell lines. The haemolytic activity of poly-APS is due to their detergent-like structure and behaviour in aqueous solutions.

Ostreolysin enhances fruiting initiation in the oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus).

Fruiting initiation in mushrooms can be triggered by a variety of environmental and biochemical stimuli, including substances of natural or synthetic origin. In this work ostreolysin, a cytolytic protein specifically expressed during the formation of primordia and fruit bodies of Pleurotus ostreatus, was applied to nutrient media inoculated with mycelium of P. ostreatus, and its effects on mycelial growth and fructification of the mushroom studied.

Influence of corn steep liquor and glucose on colonization of control and CCB (Cu/Cr/B)-treated wood by brown rot fungi.

There are increasing problems with regard to the disposal of treated wood waste. Due to heavy metals or arsenic in impregnated wood waste, burning and landfill disposal options are not considered to be environmentally friendly solutions for dealing with this problem. Extraction of the heavy metals and recycling of the preservatives from the wood waste is a much more promising and environmentally friendly solution.

Screening of selected wood-damaging fungi for the HIV-1 reverse transcriptase inhibitors.

Extracts obtained using methanol and dichloromethane from 57 species of wood damaging fungi were investigated for their ability to inhibit HIV-1 reverse transcriptase activity in vitro using a non-radioactive assay. Sixty-three samples were tested all together; some species were represented more than one isolate. Thirteen methanolic extracts exhibited more than 40% inhibition and two among them inhibited the enzyme by more than 80%.

Influence of acidification of CCB (Cu/Cr/B) impregnated wood on fungal copper tolerance.

Copper tolerant fungi are known for more than 60 years but the complete mechanisms of copper tolerance by these fungi are still not fully understood. Copper tolerance has previously been linked to oxalic acid excretion by copper tolerant brown rot fungi. The oxalic acid then reacts with copper in the wood to form an insoluble and therefore less toxic copper oxalate.

Submerged cultivation of Ganoderma lucidum biomass and immunostimulatory effects of fungal polysaccharides.

Original Ganoderma lucidum strain MZKI G97 isolated from Slovenian forests was cultivated in a liquid substrate based on potato dextrose and olive oil. The influences of inoculum and oxygen partial pressure in batch and fed batch cultivation in a 10-l laboratory stirred tank reactor were studied. Fungal biomass was found to be oxygen and shear sensible.

Pleurotus and Agrocybe hemolysins, new proteins hypothetically involved in fungal fruiting.

Novel hemolytic proteins, ostreolysin and aegerolysin, were purified from the fruiting bodies of the edible mushrooms Pleurotus ostreatus and Agrocybe aegerita. Both ostreolysin and aegerolysin have a molecular weight of about 16 kDa, have low isoelectric points of 5.0 and 4.