About this Research Topic

Background

Since ancient times, mushrooms have been recognized as a good component for a healthy diet. We must acknowledge that foraging wild mushrooms plays a timeless role in the history of diets and traditional medicines for mankind, keeping in mind the risk of mushroom poisoning due to misidentification of edible species is a potential risk. Currently, the spike in domestic and commercial production of mushrooms is gaining increasing importance due to scientific evidence generated in recent decades, advocating the high nutritional value and medicinal properties of mushrooms. Due to their low fat content, high protein, dietary fiber, and vitamins and minerals, mushrooms seem to be an ideal food for a healthy lifestyle. Additionally, mushrooms are a unique food source as they exhibit potent antioxidant properties and naturally contain beta-glucans, compounds that can help enhance the immune response, promoting overall immune system health and potentially supporting the body's defense against infections and diseases, thereby containing medicinal value. With increasing global population and equally increasing demands for food and medicine security, mushrooms can serve as a potential source of functional food and nutraceuticals.

Although the total number of mushroom species discovered till date is quite large, only a small fraction of the discovered species have been well-characterized for their nutritional and medicinal value. Out of those, the number of mushroom species contributing to global food production is much smaller. There is a tremendous scope for characterization of numerous edible and medicinally important wild mushroom species for identification of nutraceuticals and therapeutics, as well as for development of standardized cultivation techniques for their commercial cultivation. Recent research on mushroom biology has generated a huge amount of scientific information regarding their edibility, toxicology, functional properties and also led to the discovery of new nutraceuticals. Advances in the field of genomics, metabolomics and other machine learning platforms have revolutionized scientific studies, and offer a promising scope for advancing research on mushrooms. Promotion of nutrient-rich edible mushrooms and their novel cultivation technologies (such as cost-efficient mechanization, biofortification, enhancement of shelf-life etc.) through scientific evidence can open new doors to the mushroom industries for meeting global nutritional demands and food sustainability.

The purpose of this Research Topic is to showcase some of the excellent contributions in the concerned field, which can broaden the current scientific advances towards the establishment of edible mushrooms as a sustainable human diet. This collection also aims to explore the novel and existing sources of mushrooms for promising nutraceuticals that may serve mankind.

This Research Topic welcomes original research articles and reviews, including but not limited to, the following thematic areas:
- Characterization of unexplored mushroom species for nutritional and medicinal importance
- Strain improvement of mushrooms for enhancing nutritional/medicinal value
- Optimization of cultivation technologies for wild/exotic mushroom species
- Artificial intelligence and machine learning platforms for identification of nutraceuticals and therapeutics in mushrooms
- Next-generation omics technologies for mushroom research
- Valorization of edible mushrooms through innovative food-processing techniques

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Clinical Trial
• Community Case Study
• Conceptual Analysis
• Data Report
• Editorial
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Clinical Trial
• Community Case Study
• Conceptual Analysis
• Data Report
• Editorial
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Review
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: Bioactive compounds, mushrooms, exotic mushrooms, nutrition, medicine, nutraceutical, medicinal mushrooms, mushroom-based food, mushroom characterization

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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