Antimicrobial Activity of Different Collections of Medicinal Polypore Fungus Fomitopsis pinicola (Agaricomycetes).

The study of antimicrobial activity (AMA) of 14 genetically identified dikaryotic strains of red belted medicinal polypore Fomitopsis pinicola isolated from Betula sp. and other deciduous trees, as well as conifers Picea sp. and Abies alba in Russia, France and Italy against test fungi and bacteria is discussed. The results of this study have shown that F. pinicola strains possess significant antimicrobial potential against dermatophytes (Chrysosporium keratinophilum, Microsporum gypseum, Trichophyton terrestre) and Penicillium species (P. griseofulvum, P. sp.) isolated from soil samples in Armenia, as well as Gram-negative (Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella typhimurium) and Gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus) bacteria received from different culture collections. In dual culture experiments, F. pinicola showed high antagonistic/antifungal activity toward test fungi by suppressing their average growth rate (GRavr) and sporulation causing morphological changes of colonies. The cultural broth (CB) samples obtained from 21-d static culture of F. pinicola demonstrated higher antifungal activity (AFA) with fungicidic (FC) and fungistatic (FS) effects against dermatophytes and more than 50% GRavr inhibitory effect for Penicillium spp. compared with mycelial extracts (ME) samples. Tested CB and ME samples of F. pinicola showed also antibacterial activity (ABA) against test bacteria. The AMA of CB samples was higher than the activity of ME samples. The mycelium of F. pinicola may be considered a potential source of extra- and intracellular antimicrobial compounds. Further studies to elucidate the mechanism of antimicrobial effect of F. pinicola for developing mushroom-derived biotech products are warranted.