Sulphur Tuft Culinary-Medicinal Mushroom, Laetiporus sulphureus (Bull.: Fr.) Murrill (Aphyllophoromycetideae): Bioactive Compounds and Pharmaceutical Effects (Review)

Laetiporus sulphureus is an edible higher Basidiomycetes brown-rot mushroom that has been used for medicinal purposes for centuries, particularly in China, Japan, and Korea. It has not been studied as extensively as some of the more popular higher Basidiomycetes. Nonetheless, its preparations have exhibited remarkable biological activities, with numerous metabolites being active against major diseases of our time and modern-day lifestyle. There is a need to characterize these active constituents and, by doing so, make it possible to produce new effective medicines, which may be hampered by problems of mass production. This article reviews the publications dealing with the chemical makeup of L. sulphureus and the activity and applications of the compounds isolated from its fruit bodies or submerged cultivated mycelia.