Truffles: Biodiversity, Ecological Significances, and Biotechnological Applications

Perhaps with the exception of a small number of cultivated saprobic species, the true truffles (Tuber spp.) command the attention of more scientists than other species of mushroom. Many thousands of scientific papers have been devoted to topics ranging among taxonomy; aroma; molecular makeup; the food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetics industries; and perhaps, at the bottom of the list, their cultivation. The genus Tuber is widespread in the northern hemisphere and with the recent exploration of new areas and the application of molecular identification methods, the number of proposed species is growing almost exponentially. The past 25 years in particular have seen a huge expansion in the cultivation of Tuber melanosporum, T. borchii, and T. aestivum in the Southern Hemisphere and a flurry of papers dealing with various molecular aspects of the truffles. This has resulted in a greater understanding of how to grow truffles in areas which would have been considered totally unsuitable in the Northern Hemisphere, and a depth of knowledge that early 1970s/1980s’ researchers would never have conceived such as the cultivation of T. melanosporum on heavily limed, naturally very acidic soils. Our current review looks at the state of knowledge in the fields of biodiversity and ecology, biotechnological applications, and the cultivation of true truffles.