China News Service, Haikou, March 23 (Zhao Huiyang) According to news from the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences (hereinafter referred to as the Academy of Thermal Sciences) on the 23rd, recently, Dr. Ma Haixia from the Institute of Tropical Biotechnology of the Academy of Thermal Sciences led a team to discover a large There are 8 new fungal species, named Hainan charcoal fungus, Wuzhishan charcoal fungus, Jianfengling charcoal fungus, cocoon sp. Charcoal horn bacteria and Hainan Datou tea charcoal horn bacteria have been published in Mycokeys, Diversity and Phytotaxa, the authoritative journals of international taxonomy.
The 8 new species discovered this time all belong to the order Ascomycota, which can decompose cellulose and lignin, and play an important role as decomposers in the tropical rainforest ecological cycle system.
At the same time, three new species of Charcoal horns were found on the leaves of cedar in the tropical rain forest of Diaoluo Mountain, the leaves of Mount Hainanese pepper and the leaves of Hainan Datoucha. These species contain secondary metabolites such as terpenoids, alkaloids, sterols and polyketones. The product has pharmacological activities such as antioxidant, antibacterial and anti-tumor, and its research is expected to find innovative drugs with great medicinal development prospects.
Since 2016, Ma Haixia has led team members to visit Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park more than 50 times to investigate the large fungal resources in each rainforest reserve.
A total of more than 3,000 specimens were collected, 161 strains were isolated, and more than 2,000 habitat photos were taken. In 2,212 studies on the diversity of 702 species of woody macrofungi, 3 new genera and 92 new species were found from Hainan Province. The type specimens were found and published. These species include 22 edible fungi, 71 medicinal fungi, and 6 poisonous fungi, among which there are 13 species of Ganoderma lucidum with great development value.
Charcoal horn fungus from Hainan mountain pepper leaf.
Photo courtesy of the Academy of Thermal Sciences
The relevant person in charge of the Academy of Thermal Sciences introduced that the Hainan tropical rainforest is an important part of the tropical rainforests in the world. It is the most concentrated, well-preserved, and contiguous tropical rainforest in China. It is particularly rich in biodiversity and is an important global germplasm. The resource gene bank is an important area for tropical biodiversity conservation in China and one of the hotspots for global biodiversity conservation. It plays a very important role in protecting biodiversity in China and the world and maintaining regional ecological balance.
However, there are still a large number of large-scale fungal resources that have not been discovered, protected and utilized in Hainan, the "natural strain bank", and related research is still in its infancy.
In the follow-up, the research team of macrofungal resources and utilization of the Institute of Biotechnology, Academy of Thermal Sciences will further carry out the background survey of macrofungal resources in Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park, and master the types, distribution characteristics and dynamic changes of macrofungal resources in the region, as well as the status of biodiversity. etc., contribute Hainan wisdom to the protection and sustainable creation and utilization of macrofungal biodiversity and resources.
(over)