China is one of the first countries to eat and cultivate edible mushrooms, and its history can be traced back to the Yangshao culture period from 4000 BC to 3000 BC.
In China, there are more than 350 kinds of known edible mushrooms, such as shiitake mushrooms, grass mushrooms, mushrooms, fungus, white fungus, monkey head, morel mushrooms, saddle mushrooms, truffles and so on.
Edible mushrooms are rich in nutrients, delicious taste, and are popular accompaniments.
Studies have found that a variety of edible mushrooms of fungal polysaccharides have immunomodulatory effects, fungal polysaccharides are a non-specific immune promoter, can enhance the phagocytic function of the reticuloendothelial system, through the role of lymphocytes, macrophages, reticuloendothelial system, etc., improve and regulate the body's immune function. Some polysaccharide substances of edible mushrooms also have anti-cancer and anti-cancer effects, and these polysaccharide substances can stimulate the formation of antibodies, thereby improving and adjusting the active defense system inside the human body.
The people are all good at monkey heads, although the five meats are not enough.
Today, the small farmers want to talk to you about this edible mushroom, which is not only nutritious and delicious, but also the story behind it is also very moving.
Vol. 1 Named after the "shape-like" - Lion's Head Mushroom
In the forest, if you are lucky enough to find a lion's head mushroom on a branch, you have to tie up its roots with a thread instead of picking it. Because there must be a tree with lion's head mushrooms not far from it, when you pick off another monkey head, come back and pick another one, so that you can harvest two lion's head mushrooms - the two lion's head mushrooms seem to be looking at each other, they sense each other, if you don't tie the first one, the second one will not be found.
In folklore, there is a legend that lion's head mushrooms always appear in pairs, where does this come from?
According to legend, after Sun Wukong escorted the Tang monks to the Western Heavens to learn the scriptures, the monkeys on Huaguo Mountain had no one to rely on and could only scatter and flee, and two of the monkeys fled all the way north to the primeval forest of Daxing'anling.
In the deep mountains and old forests, all kinds of wild beasts emerge in an endless stream, and the weather is getting colder, and the two monkeys have no experience of winter. In order to avoid the predation of wild animals, the two monkeys are active in the trees during the day and maintain a certain distance from each other. In this way, they face each other face to face during the day to blow the wind for each other, and at night they snuggle up to each other to warm each other, supporting through the first winter of Daxing'anling.
When spring arrives, the two monkeys work harder to gather food. Unexpectedly, one day they alarmed a poisonous snake while looking for food, and although they worked together to drive away the poisonous snake, the male monkey was unfortunately bitten by the poisonous snake, poisoned, and finally died in the big tree where they lived in winter. After this, the lonely female monkey had no intention of eating, always quietly watching her husband's body, becoming weaker and weaker, and finally died.
I don't know how many years after years of wind and rain, two rare lion's head mushrooms have grown on the tree, and from a distance, it looks like two monkeys are watching each other.
So as long as the Lion's Head mushroom is found in one tree, there will be another one not far from the opposite side, and they will always rely on each other.
Vol. 2 Does Lion's Head mushroom only grow in deep mountain forests?
As a "mountain treasure", the lion's head mushroom is naturally very rare, and the wild lion's head mushroom was included in the "Red List of China's Biodiversity - Macromycline Volume" - vulnerable (VU) in 2018.
According to legend, as early as 3,000 years ago, the Shang Dynasty was already picked and eaten. Xu Guangqi of the Ming Dynasty recorded in the "Complete Book of Agricultural Politics": "If the genus of no flower, magu, and monkey head are all rotten by the roots of grass and trees." ”
In 1959, China began to domesticate lion's mane mushrooms, and in 1960 it was successfully cultivated with wood chip bottles. Today, the method of cultivating Lion's Head mushroom is more perfect, and even the cultivation base has made a new breakthrough.
Experts from the Institute of Hemp Of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences said that the by-products of hemp are used as cultivation bases to cultivate rare edible mushrooms such as Ganoderma lucidum, morel mushrooms, elm mushrooms, lion's head mushrooms, tea tree mushrooms, Xiuzhen mushrooms, and zhenji mushrooms. It can effectively promote the resource utilization of hemp by-products and protect forest resources and ecological environment.
Studies have shown that the use of hemp by-products to factory cultivate edible mushrooms, compared with the addition of hemp by-product medium, the cultivation cycle is shortened by 11%-21%. The cultivated products, taking morel mushrooms as an example, increased the protein content by 21.4% and reduced the fat content by 2.4 times.
For the first time, it was found that hemp by-product medium can improve the expression level and enzyme activity of lignin-degrading enzyme proteins, and the activity and yield of lignin-degrading enzymes are positively correlated, laying a theoretical foundation for screening suitable media and improving the biological efficiency of edible mushrooms.
Vol. 3 The genetic mechanism of the recombinant mutation of Lion's Head mushroom has been found!
According to Gong Wenbing, associate researcher of the Genetic Improvement and Application Team of Agricultural Products Processing Microorganisms of the Institute of Hemp Research of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, as an important large fungus, Lion's Head Mushroom has high edible and medicinal value, and is known as "Mountain Treasure Monkey Head and Seafood Bird's Nest".
Based on genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphisms, the scientists characterized the recombinant exchange events of Lion's Mane mushroom, identified 59 recombinant exchange hotspots and their enrichment motifs, and excavated the genetic loci that regulate recombinant variation.
Genomic characteristics and recombinant exchange distribution of Lion's Head mushroom
Homologous recombination is a key link in meiosis, providing a large amount of genetic variation for sexually reproducing organisms and is the basis for genetic diversity and evolutionary adaptability of species. The obtained lion's head mushroom genome, genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism markers, and high-precision genetic maps are extremely valuable big data resources, laying a foundation for the study of the biology and genetic improvement of lion's mane mushroom.
Combined with second- and third-generation sequencing technology, scientists have completed the assembly of the high-quality genome of Lion's Mane Mushroom in advance, and constructed the first microsatellite label database of Lion's Head Mushroom. By using genome resequencing, the first high-precision chain map of Lion's Head Mushroom was constructed, and it is also the genetic map with the highest density among edible mushrooms.
This is the first time that quantitative genetics has been used in macrofungals to resolve the genetic mechanisms of recombinant variation, and the results of the study are conducive to deepening the understanding of meiosis homologous recombination of macrokines. The relevant research results have been published online.
Lion's Head Mushroom,
Do you like it?
The weather is getting colder,
Boil a pot of lion's head mushroom chicken soup,
Let's try it together?
Pay attention to small farmers, and trace the humanistic history of fruits and vegetables while eating, explore plant culture, and seek inspiration from the plant world.