Now, it is the fruiting time of Grifola frondosa in Huangtian Town, Qingyuan County, Zhejiang Province of China, with faces wreathed in smiles, growers are engaged with picking and drying work.

“Now, market price on fresh Grifola frondosa is at 24 CNY per kg while the dried form is sold at 80-100 CNY per kg,” introduces one of Grifola frondosa growers passionately.

Grifola frondosa is categorized into a kind of edible and rare mushroom which is known as Maitake mushroom in China. Cultivation of Grifola frondosa shows high requirement to water quality, air and other natural environment. According to research, 100g of dried Grifola frondosa are packed with 22.75g of protein, 23.58g of amino acid, and other micro elements. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that Grifola frondosa and its extracts evidently play the role of warding off cancer and virus, enhancing the immune system, lowering the blood pressure, blood sugar and blood fat, thus helping support healthy energy.

picture: Only 71 species out of over 100,000 described species of fungi glow.

Glowing in the dark costs energy. So why do mushrooms bioluminescence?

To answer this question, researchers from Brazil and the U.S. focused on the pale green light emitted from fungi. They had a hunch that the light attracted insects. Fungi produce tiny spores to spread themselves, much like seeds from trees. Insects can help transport the fungal spores. The researchers were also curious if glowing brighter attracted more insects.

The fungi Neonothopanus gardneri, glows strongly at the bottom of coconut palms in Brazil, near the transition ecosystems by the Amazon forest. Down below the palms, the mushrooms are exposed to less windflow, so they need to find another way to spread their spores in order to be reproductively successful.

Originally it was thought that these mushrooms glowed all the time. Constant bioluminescence uses a lot of energy, so the researchers wanted to examine if this assumption was true.

Author: Linh Anh Cat
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"I tried mushroom coffee for the first time at a crunchy cafe in West Berkeley: a latte brewed with a chaga mushroom elixir. It reminded me of a slightly bitter chai, with an astringent finish, thankfully softened by the mild sweetness of oat milk. But what the concoction lacked in palatability, it apparently compensated for in health benefits, according to my barista, who prattled off a laundry list of them — everything from immunity and focus, to vitality and general well-being. Since then, I’ve spotted mushroom coffee on a smattering of other specialty café menus.

After a bit of digging, I've learned that Goop-endorsed company Four Sigmatic sells mushroom coffee grounds and instant coffee at Whole Foods, Sprouts, and other grocery chains. Other companies like NeuRoast and Sayan offer similar products. Clearly, mushroom coffee is trending. I wondered, though, whether it does anything, or if it was just more woo-woo wellness hype."

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Source: BDG Media Inc, by Melissa Pandika

On October 18, farmers working in the cooperative of Weinanbai Village, Hengqu County, Shanxi Province of China are busy with picking of Shiitake mushroom.

“Now, there are 2 mushroom cooperatives in our village, annual cultivation capacity of Shiitake nutrient bags reaches 100,000 bags while over 50 poor farmers are leaded to generate the annual per caipta income of 6000 CNY,” introduces person in charge of the cooperative passionately, going on that after years of development, by now, 3200 standardized cold mushroom sheds have been built in Hengqu County, annual output on green Shiitake mushroom, Oyster mushroom and Black fungus comes to 12,000 tons, mushrooms are sold well to over 10 provinces and cities in China, output value hits 120 million CNY while above 3000 farmers are encouraged to embark on mushroom growing and get stable revenues.

According to mushroom quotation provided by Yunnan Guanshang Vegetable Market, on October 17, Enoki mushroom is the sole variety that shows price rise, from 6 to 6.5 CNY per kg.

On the contrary, by October 17, Shiitake mushroom, Oyster mushroom, King oyster mushroom, Button mushroom, Agrocybe cylindracea, Seafood mushroom and Pleurotus cornucopiae are 7 varieties that show price fall.

1. Price of Shiitake mushroom has dropped from 16 to 14 CNY per kg, indicating 13% of decline range.

2. Price of Oyster mushroom has dropped from 6.5 to 6 CNY per kg, indicating 8% of decline range.

3. Price of King oyster mushroom has dropped from 6.5 to 6 CNY per kg, indicating 8% of decline range.

4. Price of Button mushroom has dropped from 17.1 to 15.7 CNY per kg, indicating 8% of decline range.

5. Price of Agrocybe cylindracea has dropped from 12 to 10 CNY per kg, indicating 17% of decline range.

6. Price of Seafood mushroom has dropped from 10 to 9.5 CNY per kg, indicating 5% of decline range.

7. Price of Pleurotus cornucopiae has dropped from 7.5 to 6 CNY per kg, indicating 20% of decline range.

“Price of White beech mushroom, Brown Shimeji mushroom and Pleurotus nebrodensis is respectively at 14.2 CNY, 18.3 CNY and 27.5 CNY per kg. Recently, dim sales of mushroom and sufficient market supply pull down the price of mushroom in our market,” said manager of Yunnan Guanshang Vegetable Market warmly.

According to mushroom quotation provided by Heilongjiang Harbin Hada Fruit & Vegetable Market, on October 14, Oyster mushroom, King oyster mushroom, White beech mushroom, Brown Shimeji mushroom, Seafood mushroom and Enoki mushroom are 6 varieties that show price fall.

1. Price of Oyster mushroom has dropped from 14 to 7 CNY per kg, indicating 50% of decline range.

2. Price of King oyster mushroom has dropped from 7 to 6.5 CNY per kg, indicating 7% of decline range.

3. Price of White beech mushroom has dropped from 20 to 15 CNY per kg, indicating 25% of decline range.

4. Price of Brown Shimeji mushroom has dropped from 21.7 to 18.3 CNY per kg, indicating 16% of decline range.

5. Price of Seafood mushroom has dropped from 11.5 to 11 CNY per kg, indicating 4% of decline range.

6. Price of Enoki mushroom has dropped from 6 to 5.5 CNY per kg, indicating 8% of decline range.

On the contrary, by October 14, Shiitake mushroom, Button mushroom and Stropharia rugosoannulata are 3 varieties that show price rise.

1. Price of Shiitake mushroom has risen from 9 to 10 CNY per kg, indicating 11% of increase range.

2. Price of Button mushroom has risen from 12 to 18.8 CNY per kg, indicating 57% of increase range.

3. Price of Stropharia rugosoannulata has risen from 10 to 12 CNY per kg, indicating 20% of increase range.

“Price of Pholiota nameko, Agrocybe cylindracea, Pleurotus geesteranus and Cordyceps militaris is respectively at 10 CNY, 16 CNY, 12 CNY and 14 CNY per kg. As temperature evidently gets down in China, price of mushroom is estimated to keep rising in our market,” said manager of Heilongjiang Harbin Hada Fruit & Vegetable Market warmly.

According to mushroom quotation provided by Shanxi Taiyuan Hexi Agricultural Products Market, on September 24, Shiitake mushroom and Cordyceps militaris are 2 varieties that show price rise.

1. Price of Shiitake mushroom has risen from 11 to 12 CNY per kg, indicating 9% of increase range.

2. Price of Cordyceps militaris has risen from 14 to 16 CNY per kg, indicating 14% of increase range.

On the contrary, by September 24, Superior Shiitake mushroom, White beech mushroom, King oyster mushroom, Enoki mushroom, Seafood mushroom and Oyster mushroom are 6 mushroom varieties that show price fall.

1. Price of Superior Shiitake mushroom has dropped from 20 to 18 CNY per kg, indicating 10% of decline range.

2. Price of White beech mushroom has dropped from 15 to 10.6 CNY per kg, indicating 29% of decline range.

3. Price of King oyster mushroom has dropped from 7 to 6 CNY per kg, indicating 14% of decline range.

4. Price of Enoki mushroom has dropped from 5.5 to 5.3 CNY per kg, indicating 4% of decline range.

5. Price of Seafood mushroom has dropped from 10.4 to 9.8 CNY per kg, indicating 6% of decline range.

6. Price of Oyster mushroom has dropped from 10 to 9 CNY per kg, indicating 10% of decline range.

“Price of Drumstick mushroom, Brown Shimeji mushroom, Button mushroom and Agrocybe cylindracea is respectively at 14 CNY, 20.8 CNY, 10 CNY and 14 CNY per kg. In September, by reason of more sources of goods, price of mushroom is at an overall downward trend in our market. In the coming times, price of mushroom is expected to fluctuate at a small range,” introduces manager of Shanxi Taiyuan Hexi Agricultural Products Market warmly.

Miami researchers discover process to sustainably produce psilocybin - a drug candidate that could help treat depression

A team of undergraduate students author published article

Andrew Jones at Miami University and his team of students may have developed a research first.

Through metabolic engineering, they discovered a way to sustainably produce a promising drug candidate to help patients with treatment-resistant depression.

Their findings are published in the journal Metabolic Engineering titled, “In vivo production of psilocybin in E. coli.”

Psilocybin is now in clinical trials, and medical professionals see promising results for its use in treating addiction, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder in humans.

Jones, assistant professor in Miami’s department of chemical, paper, and biomedical engineering, believed he could come up with a process using genetically engineered bacteria to produce the drug candidate.

The chemical, psilocybin, is naturally found in a specific mushroom, Psilocybe cubensis. Jones said to mass produce psilocybin from its natural mushroom host, it would require extensive real estate and time. Currently, alternative synthetic chemical production methods are used but are very expensive. Jones, the principal investigator of this research, wanted a solution that maintains biological integrity and reduces production costs.

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Source: Miami University, Oxford, Ohio http://miamioh.edu