Engineering Aspects in Production of Various Medicinal Mushrooms Biomass in Submerged Bioreactors

Basidiomycetes of various species and their wide range of pharmaceuticaly interesting products in the past decades represents one of the most attractive groups of natural products in Asia and North America. Production of mushroom fruit bodies using farming technology is hardly covering the market. Development of comprehensive submerged technologies in stirred tank and air lift bioreactors are the most promising technologies for fast and large-amount cultivation of medicinal mushroom biomass and its pharmaceutically active products. Research in physiology, basic and applied studies in mushroom metabolism, process engineering aspects, and clinical studies in the past two decades represent a large cotribution to the development of this potential, which initiates the development of new drugs and some very attractive over-the-counter human and veterinary remedies. The current article is an overview of the most relevant engineering achievements in submerged cultivation of some medicinal mushrooms-Grifola frondosa, Trametes versicolor, Hericium erinaceus, and Cordyceps militaris-and some other species biomass production in bioreactors.