Cordyceps
| Cordyceps | |
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| Cordyceps militaris | |
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| Genus: | Cordyceps Fr. (1818)
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| Type species | |
| Cordyceps militaris (L.) Fr. (1818)
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| Species[1] | |
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List of species
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Cordyceps /ˈkɔːrdɪsɛps/, or Dongchong Xiacao (Traditional Chinese: 冬蟲夏草, literally “winter bug summer herb”), is a genus of ascomycete fungi (sac fungi) that includes about 600 worldwide species. Diverse variants of cordyceps have had more than 1,500 years of use in Chinese medicine.[2] Most Cordyceps species are endoparasitoids, parasitic mainly on insects and other arthropods (they are thus entomopathogenic fungi); a few are parasitic on other fungi.[3]
The generic name Cordyceps is derived from the Greek word κορδύλη kordýlē, meaning "club", and the Latin suffix -ceps, meaning "-headed".[citation needed]
Currently, the genus has a worldwide distribution and most of the approximately 600 species[4] that have been described are from Asia (notably Nepal, China, Japan, Bhutan, Korea, Vietnam, and Thailand).
Subtaxa[edit]
There are two recognized subgenera:[5]
Cordyceps subgen. Epichloe was at one time a subgenus, but is now regarded as a separate genus, Epichloë.[5]
C. sinensis was shown in 2007 by nuclear DNA sampling to be distantly related to most of the remainder of species then placed in that genus, and as a result it was renamed Ophiocordyceps sinensis and placed in a new family, the Ophiocordycipitaceae, as was "Cordyceps unilateralis".[8]
Cordyceps and Metacordyceps spp. are now thought to be the teleomorphs of a number of anamorphic, entomopathogenic fungus "genera" such as: Beauveria (Cordyceps bassiana), Lecanicillium, Metarhizium and Nomuraea.[citation needed]
Biology[edit]
When Cordyceps attacks a host, the mycelium invades and eventually replaces the host tissue, while the elongated fruit body (ascocarp) may be cylindrical, branched, or of complex shape. The ascocarp bears many small, flask-shaped perithecia containing asci. These, in turn, contain thread-like ascospores, which usually break into fragments and are presumably infective.[9]
Research[edit]
Polysaccharide components and cordycepin are under basic research and have been isolated from C. militaris.[10]
In popular culture[edit]
Cordyceps is a core plot element in the video game series The Last of Us, first released in 2013, and its 2023 television adaptation.[11][12]
In the video game Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling, Cordyceps-infected bugs are enemies that can be encountered. Cordyceps also serves as a major plot point in the story.
In the novel The Girl with All the Gifts (2014) and its film adaptation (2016), a mutation of Ophiocordyceps unilateralis is responsible for an infection which infects humans and causes the collapse of civilization.
Gallery[edit]
Cordyceps beginning its fruiting growth from a wasp
Cordyceps militaris
Cordyceps militaris
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ "Cordyceps". NCBI taxonomy. Bethesda, MD: National Center for Biotechnology Information. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
- ^ Buenz, E. J., Bauer, B. A., Osmundson, T. W., & Motley, T. J. (2005). The traditional Chinese medicine Cordyceps sinensis and its effects on apoptotic homeostasis. Journal of ethnopharmacology, 96(1-2), 19-29.
- ^ Nikoh, N (April 2000). "Interkingdom host jumping underground: phylogenetic analysis of entomoparasitic fungus of the genus cordyceps". Mol Biol Evol. 17 (4): 629–38. doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.molbev.a026341. PMID 10742053.
- ^ Sung, Gi-Ho; Nigel L. Hywel-Jones; Jae-Mo Sung; J. Jennifer Luangsa-ard; Bhushan Shrestha & Joseph W. Spatafora (2007). "Phylogenetic classification of Cordyceps and the clavicipitaceous fungi". Stud Mycol. 57 (1): 5–59. doi:10.3114/sim.2007.57.01. PMC 2104736. PMID 18490993.
- ^ a b "Cordyceps". Index Fungorum. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
- ^ Elias Magnus Fries, Observ. mycol. (Havniae) 2: 316 (cancellans) (1818)
- ^ Edmond Tulasne & Charles Tulasne, Select. fung. carpol. (Paris) 3: 20 (1865)
- ^ Holliday, John; Cleaver, Matt (2008). "Medicinal Value of the Caterpillar Fungi Species of the Genus Cordyceps (Fr.) Link (Ascomycetes). A Review" (PDF). International Journal of Medicinal Mushrooms. New York: Begell House. 10 (3): 219–234. doi:10.1615/IntJMedMushr.v10.i3.30. ISSN 1521-9437. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-02-22. Retrieved 2009-03-10.
- ^ Shrestha, Bhushan; Han, Sang-Kuk; Sung, Jae-Mo; Sung, Gi-Ho (2012). "Fruiting Body Formation of Cordyceps militaris from Multi-Ascospore Isolates and Their Single Ascospore Progeny Strains". Mycobiology. 40 (2): 100–106. doi:10.5941/MYCO.2012.40.2.100. ISSN 1229-8093. PMC 3408298. PMID 22870051.
- ^ "Cordyceps". Drugs.com. 14 September 2020. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
- ^ Kyle Hill (25 June 2013). "The Fungus that Reduced Humanity to The Last of Us". Scientific American. Retrieved 4 May 2021.
- ^ https://variety.com/2023/tv/reviews/the-last-of-us-hbo-review-1235480139/