Purification and characterization of growth-inhibitory compounds from 2 genera of British Columbia wild mushrooms: fomitopsis and phaeolus

Modern science is currently working to characterize the beneficial compounds from mushrooms and their potential as pharmaceutical drugs. In this thesis, eight British Columbian wild mushroom collections (3 species), comprising Fomitopsis pinicola, Phaeolus schweinitzii and Phaeolus sp., were screened for growth-inhibitory potential. Out of 28 crude extracts, 15 exhibited strong growth-inhibitory activity. For the Phaeolus sp. collection, liquid-liquid extraction, sizeexclusion chromatography and high-performance liquid chromatograph-mass spectrometry (HPLCMS) were used to purify the growth-inhibitory compound of interest. NMR analyses confirmed its identity as hispidin, a known potent anti-cancer compound. Another compound with a mass to charge ratio of 283.2 in hexane extract of Phaeolus sp. was detected by HPLC-MS. This study provides the foundational work for further isolation of small molecule(s) from the three mushroom species and shed light on the profile of Phaeolus sp. as a source of growth-inhibitory compounds.