Hericium erinaceus (Yamabushitake in Japan) is a well-known edible and medicinal mushroom. We discovered antidementia compounds, hericenones C to H, from the fruiting bodies and erinacine A to I from the cultured mycelia of the fungus. Based on the data of the compounds, several clinical experiments were performed using the fungus. "Fairy rings" is a phenomenon that turfgrass grows more prolific or inhibited than the surrounding area as a ring and then occasionally mushrooms develop on the ring. We found fairy-ring causing principles "fairy chemicals" and the biosynthetic routes of the compounds on the purine metabolic pathway in plants and mushrooms.
Keywords: Hericium erinaceus; 2-zahypoxanthine; antidementia compound; fairy chemicals; fairy rings.
© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Japan Society for Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Agrochemistry.