Medicinal mushroom Ganoderma lucidum has been used in East Asia for centuries in order to prevent and treat a variety of diseases such as hepatitis, immunological disorders and cancers. In fact, this fungus contains a vast source of polysaccharides, proteins and secondary metabolites with anti-tumor and immuno-modulatory properties. Up to now, a variety of drug metabolites extracted from G. lucidum have reached the stage of commercial production. Recently, in addition to China, Korea and Japan, this valuable fungus has been identified in different parts of the world such as Pakistan, Malaysia and Turkey. In 2007, G. lucidum has been identified in northern forests of Iran; however, molecular identification of this fungus has not been reported yet. The aim of this study was, therefore, to identify this fungus collected from northern Iran by analyzing ITS-5.8S rDNA sequence. The result of this experiment confirmed that the collected specimen were G. lucidum.

Global interest in edible herbs for health care and health promotion has increased significantly in recent years. Ganoderma lucidum is a forest fungus with a woody texture that has been used since ancient times to enhance health and prevent and treat many diseases due to its wide range of secondary metabolites with abundant medicinal properties. So far, many cellular mechanisms have been proposed to explain how the active metabolites function and the health and hygienic properties of this valuable medicinal fungus, including anti-cancer, anti-viral, anti-bacterial, enhanced cellular immunity, antioxidant and many more. This article reviews the scientific findings of scientists on the antimicrobial properties of the medicinal fungus G. lucidum.

Ganoderma lucidum Karst. is an annual medicinal fungus which belongs to the Ganodermataceae family. Ganoderma lucidum, also known by the common names Reishi or Mannentake (Japanese), Ling Zhi (Chinese) and Yung Zehi (Korean). Ganoderma is the symbol of happy living, chance, immortality and health in China. In orient folk medicine Ganoderma was used for treating insomnia, asthma, kidney and liver diseases as well as arthritis. The major chemical constituents of G. lucidum are polysaccharides, triterpenes, sterols, lectins and some proteins having beneficial properties for the prevention and treatment of a variety of ailments. Both triterpenes and polysaccharides contain anticancer properties thus making them important nominees for the researches. Spores, fruiting body and mycelium have been investigated for biological active compounds. In recent years, a number of researches were performed for the identification of biological compounds and medicinal properties of Ganoderma lucidum. The latest findings regarding G. lucidum are discussed in this review article.

Background: Ganoderma lucidum belongs to Ganodermataceae family and is a famous medicinal fungus with medicinal properties like antidiabetic, antihypertension, immunomodulating, antiviral and antibacterial effects.Objective: Due to its great medicinal effect and lack of investigation on Iranian species, this study was performed.Methods: In this study, we have investigated antibacterial activity of aqueous extract at four concentrations (50, 125, 250, 500 mg ml-1) against 3 standard Gram positive bacteria (Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Entrococcus fecalis) and 2 standard Gram negative bacteria (Pseudomonas aeroginosa and Escherichia coli) by using Disk diffusion method. Total polysaccharide of the aqueous extract and sugar composition were analyzed by phenol sulfuric acid method and GC/MS, respectively.Results: The results indicated that the aqueous extract had antibacterial effect against Pseudomonas aeroginosa at concentration of 500 mg ml-1. The polysaccharide content was 37.751 mg g-1 and the monosaccharide’s constituents were identified.Conclusion: Based on this finding the fungus contains a great amount of polysaccharides that can be use for medicinal properties, but it is not recommended for antibacterial usage according to its weak inhibitory activity.