Biocatalyst activity of entomogenous fungi: stereoselective reduction of carbonyl compounds using tochukaso and related species

A common concept is that, medicines and foods have the same origin. Many centuries ago, fungi showing bioactivities such as medicinal properties have been recognized in Japan, Korea and China. The medicinal properties attributed to fungi include anticancer activity, antibiotic activity, antiviral activity, immune response-stimulating effects, antihypertensive effects, and blood lipid lowering effects (Wasser and Weis, 1999; Kaul, 2001). Therefore, pharmaceutical industries have shown great interest in novel compounds, extracted from the mycelium or fruiting body of fungi. For example, Cordyceps, a genus of ascomycete fungi (tochukaso in Japanese), are endoparasitoides, mainly on insect larvae, mature insects, and other arthropods (Holliday and Cleaver, 2008). ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 2 Number 9 (2013) pp. 188-197 http://www.ijcmas.com