One of the most important milestones in medical application occurred with the discovery of a fungus with antibacterial activity of the genus penicillium, by Alexander Fleming in 1928, which ushered in the era of antibiotics. Ninety-five years later, new species with health benefits continue to be found.
The discovery of Penicillin undoubtedly opened lines of interdisciplinary study that several researchers around the world welcome as a reference. Currently, more than one hundred thousand species of fungi are known on the planet, which would represent a minimal part of the existing ones. “In Ecuador, only 1% of the fungi that would inhabit it have been described, which shows the debt that the country’s scientific activity owes to the kingdom of fungi.“, says Andrea Jaramillo, from the Department of Health Sciences, at the Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja (UTPL).
An international project was carried out in this country that initially resulted in the discovery of the fungus from the mountainous tropical forest of southern Ecuador called Gloeocystidiellum lojanense, which has bioactive potential. This species has antibacterial activity against four strains of the species e.coliaccording to the authors of the work published in the journal Fungus Magazine.
Discovery of fungus with antibacterial activity in Podocarpus National Park
Sampling, says Jaramillo, who leads this discovery, was carried out in the Cajanuma sector within the Podocarpus National Park, located in the provinces of Loja and Zamora and Chinchipe. The main objective of doing so was to evaluate the existing species in the place through collections to look for the diversity and different potentials of the fungi.
From this discovery, a new species of fungus was reported, which represents a valuable contribution to science and, specifically, to studies related to the kingdom of fungi. In addition, thanks to this research, it can be determined that in the Ecuadorian territory there are more species of fungi with possible bioactive components.
Exhaustive field and laboratory work
Based on the agreement between universities signed in 2019 and executed in 2021 (due to a delay caused by the covid-19 pandemic), collections of resupinated mushrooms began in the Podocarpus park sector.
The systematic work consisted of making continuous trips to the field with collection actions lasting up to eight hours, with which varied samples were obtained that were later taken to the laboratory.
The species documented in this survey went through several processes: morphological, which allow the description of basic characteristics such as color and size of spores; and the molecular one, to evaluate the DNA, that is, the fingerprint, to determine the genus and species.
After these procedures, a phylogeny work was carried out, that is, the relationship and comparison between similar species and those registered in the world of this fungus with antibacterial activity. It is in this last phase that it was verified that there are no previous reports. With this background described, research continued for about a year to describe this new species.
Applications in medicine of the fungus with antibacterial activity
Increasingly, humans are exposed to a range of diseases caused by bacteria. These, in some cases, can cause severe infections and spread throughout the body and lead to death. That is why it is necessary to continue studying and researching to find in nature, and especially in the world of fungi, species that provide strains for the production of new antibiotics.
Therefore, the next steps of this research team will be to submit it to more in-depth tests, such as the extraction of metabolites to study which compound is the one that inhibits the growth of E. coli and, with that, be able to synthesize a drug.
Research and discovery of new antibiotics is slowing down. “More than 700,000 deaths occur each year worldwide due to infections with antimicrobial-resistant bacteria. This has become a serious public health problem that could cause ten million deaths over the next 25 years and leave economic losses that would exceed one hundred trillion dollars by 2050”, according to data from the Pan American Health Organization.
Reference:
Jaramillo-Riofrío, A. et al. “Screening of the antibacterial activity of some resupinated fungi, reveals Gloeocystidiellum lojanense sp. nov. (Russulales) against E. coli from Ecuador.” Fungus Magazine.