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. 2018 Jul 16:9:1557.
doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2018.01557. eCollection 2018.

Identifying the "Mushroom of Immortality": Assessing the Ganoderma Species Composition in Commercial Reishi Products

Andrew L Loyd  1 , Brantlee S Richter  2 , Michelle A Jusino  2 , Camille Truong  2   3 , Matthew E Smith  2 , Robert A Blanchette  4 , Jason A Smith  1
Affiliations

Identifying the "Mushroom of Immortality": Assessing the Ganoderma Species Composition in Commercial Reishi Products

Andrew L Loyd et al. Front Microbiol. .

Abstract

Species of Ganoderma, commonly called reishi (in Japan) or lingzhi (in China), have been used in traditional medicine for thousands of years, and their use has gained interest from pharmaceutical industries in recent years. Globally, the taxonomy of Ganoderma species is chaotic, and the taxon name Ganoderma lucidum has been used for most laccate (shiny) Ganoderma species. However, it is now known that G. lucidum sensu stricto has a limited native distribution in Europe and some parts of China. It is likely that differences in the quality and quantity of medicinally relevant chemicals occur among Ganoderma species. To determine what species are being sold in commercially available products, twenty manufactured products (e.g., pills, tablets, teas, etc.) and seventeen grow your own (GYO) kits labeled as containing G. lucidum were analyzed. DNA was extracted, and the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region and translation elongation factor 1-alpha (tef1α) were sequenced with specific fungal primers. The majority (93%) of the manufactured reishi products and almost half of the GYO kits were identified as Ganoderma lingzhi. G. lingzhi is native to Asia and is the most widely cultivated and studied taxon for medicinal use. Illumina MiSeq sequencing of the ITS1 region was performed to determine if multiple Ganoderma species were present. None of the manufactured products tested contained G. lucidum sensu stricto, and it was detected in only one GYO kit. G. lingzhi was detected in most products, but other Ganoderma species were also present, including G. applanatum, G. australe, G. gibbosum, G. sessile, and G. sinense. Our results indicate that the content of these products vary and that better labeling is needed to inform consumers before these products are ingested or marketed as medicine. Of the 17 GYO kits tested, 11 kits contained Ganoderma taxa that are not native to the United States. If fruiting bodies of exotic Ganoderma taxa are cultivated, these GYO kits will likely end up in the environment. The effects of these exotic species to natural ecosystems needs investigation.

Keywords: Ganoderma lucidum; Polyporales; dietary supplements; lingzhi; reishi.

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Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Unrooted maximum likelihood phylogenetic tree reconstructed using ITS sequences generated in this molecular survey together with reliable reference sequences for identification at the species level. Bootstrap values are indicated on branches, followed by the posterior probability of the Bayesian phylogeny that had identical topology. Reference sequences are annotated with species names and GenBank Accession numbers. Clusters of sequences shaded were found in this study, and sequence branches with the same color are the same species. Reference sequences for G. weberianum were included to show the relationship to the G. resinaceum sensu lato species identifications. Sequences generated with Sanger sequencing are labeled as AL-M# (GYO reishi kits) and AL-R# (manufactured products), and sequences generated with Illumina MiSeq are labeled as OTU# (manufactured products).
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Relative Illumina sequence reads for each manufactured reishi product (i.e., dietary supplements). Each color represents a unique taxon that was either on the product label or a Ganoderma species detected with Next Generation Sequencing technology using the Illumina platform. “FAILED” means that the Illumina reaction did not yield good quality data. “ND” means nothing detected with the Illumina run/analysis.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Fruiting bodies of G. lingzhi produced from GYO kits sold as G. lucidum. (A) “Kidney-shaped cap form” basidiomata, which is produced with good ventilation, (B) “antler form” basidiomata, which is produced under poor ventilation and high CO2, and (C) “anter form” basidiomata that transitioned into the “kidney-shaped cap form” after being exposed to better ventilation.
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