Mycosynthesis of nanoparticles using edible and medicinal mushrooms

This review distinguishes myco-nanotechnology using metallic nanoparticles (meta-NPs) synthesized from edible mushroom matter. Green chemistry approaches were attempted to myco-synthesize meta-NPs (viz., Ag-NP, Au-NP, Se-NP, CdS-NP, Fe-NP, Pa-NP, and ZnS-NP) via different routes using edible mushrooms and have been tested toward 79% biomedical and 21% industrial applications. Biomaterials were used as biofactors to form metallic NPs. In mushroom science, mycomaterials of mushrooms were used at different percentages to mycosynthesize in an ecofriendly/green way; mycomaterials such as crude extracts of basidocarp (53%), mycelial extract or free cell filtrate (28%), in crude form or in purified form such as polysaccharides at different percentages; 9% (especially glucan), proteins/enzymes (7%) and polysaccharides protein complex (3%) as new research lines. Generally, in this field of mushroom nanoparticles about 84% of mycosynthesized NPs using mushrooms are placed outside the fungal cell (extracellular) and 16% are intracellular in the mushroom hyphae. The knowledge of the performance and influence of meta-NPs in edible mushrooms has developed in the last 10 years. Generally, while Agaricus bisporus was the first to be used in agricultural production Pleurotus spp. has the highest use (38%) in the formation of mushroom NPs. Furthermore, silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) have been biosynthesized more often in the fungi kingdom; also, Ag-NPs made up the largest part (64%) in the formation of nanoparticles in mushroom science. Mushroom meta-NPs usually have a spherical shape with sizes from 0.4 nm up to ≤300 nm but most of them are <75 nm. A few recent applications have affected the inhibition of the growth of human pathogenic bacteria by mushroom Ag-NPs in combination with antibiotics. Myco-synthesized meta-NPs using mushrooms, especially Ag-NPs, Au-NPs and Se-NPs, are potent against various cancer cell lines. Thus, these NPs can be used in numerous pharmaceutical drugs. Also, the transport of pharmaceutical drugs and biomaterials using NPs of edible mushrooms is considered a very undervalued and new application in the drug and gene fields. Mushroom meta-NPs were investigated for industrial applications such as inorganic NPs, carbon nanotubes and the treatment of waste as nano-biosorbents for the adsorption of toxic metals for cleaning the environment using eco-friendly natural materials for reducing the pollution of the environment in the future. © 2017 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston.