Chemical constituents and biological activity of three Tanzanian wild mushroom species

The three Tanzanian wild mushroom species Termitomyces letestui, Lactarius edulis and Agaricus sp. aff. arvensis yielded ergosterol, 5,8-peroxyergosterol and ergosta-5,22-dien-3β-ol, and a mixture of ergosterol, ergosta-7,22-dien-3β-ol and ergosta-7-en-3β-ol whose composition was deduced from gas chromatography/mass spectroscopic (GC/MS) analysis of the trimethysilylated mixture. GC/MS analysis of the lipid fraction from T. letestu revealed the presence of linoleic (C18:2), stearic (C18:0), oleic (C18:1), palmitic (C16:0), pentadecanoic (C15:0) and myristic (C14:0) acid. Polar T. letestui and L. edulis fractions yielded α,α,1'trehalose and mannitol. Some of the crude extracts from the three mushroom species showed mild antimicrobial, mosquito larvicidal and cytotoxic activities. The chemical composition and antimicrobial activities infer that the three mushroom species are potential functional food substrates.