Researching the magic of mushrooms
By Zhang Qian |
July 8, 2012, Sunday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
JOHN Buswell, a British expert on edible fungi, grew up picking mushrooms in fields as a boy with his father in the East Midlands. But there wasn't a wealth of mushrooms, at least nothing to compare with the hundreds of varieties in China.
Drawn to China, a mycologist's dream, he studies the genetics of edible mushrooms, including the legendary lingzhi fungus (ganoderma lucidem), called the mushroom of immortality.
Buswell, 69, started working in Hong Kong in 1990, then moved to Shanghai in 2003, joining the Institute of Edible Fungi of the Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Science.
Predictably Buswell enjoys eating mushrooms, which he eats at home once or twice a week and always orders at restaurants.
"Caogu (paddy straw mushroom) is a particular favorite," Buswell said. "They have a delicious flavor and texture but they are devilishly difficult to eat with chopsticks."
Caogu is also his favorite in labs. Straw mushroom that grows on straws tastes the best; Planting mushrooms on straws can not only reduce air pollution caused by burning straw as waste, but also making profit for the farmers, Buswell suggests.
But so far, 50kg straws can only produce about 5kg straw mushrooms, with a low biological conversion efficiency of only 10 percent. How to improve the output by interfering the biological conversion efficiency is a major task for Buswell and his colleagues.
He studies mushrooms such as xianggu (straw mushroom) and disseminates China's research achievements to the world.
Buswell said modestly of his award that "it's important to recognize that whatever contribution I might have made would not have been possible without the input and support of many other people." He includes the academy and the municipal government.
His first memory of mushrooms was picking them in fields on Saturday mornings with his father in Leicester, the United Kingdom. Only one or two species were available in markets at the time and because of high prices many families would pick their own. His father taught him which were edible and which were poisonous - the safe ones are usually smooth and have a dull color. They collected field mushrooms and blewitts and if they were lucky they could have a delicious Sunday breakfast fry-up.
Buswell majored in bacteriology at the University of Birmingham and earned his PhD at Texas State University.
His mushroom research didn't take off until 1990 when he joined the biology department at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, headed by the eminent mycologist Chang Shuting. That's when he realized there were so many mushrooms in China, many with health and medicinal benefits.
"Mushrooms are remarkable for many reasons," Buswell said. "They represent a highly nutritious food source, contain bioactive compounds with medicinal properties, and can be cultivated on waste materials, thereby contributing to a better environment."
He was in seventh heaven in 2007 when he attended an international workshop on mycorrhizal mushrooms (those linked with particular plant roots, such as orchids, beech, conifers and other trees and plants).
When a couple of Chinese mushrooms were introduced into British supermarkets, they were soon withdrawn as the public wasn't adventurous. But Buswell's British friends love his mushroom hotpot.
While mushroom research is shrinking in Britain and the United States, it's expanding in China, covering cultivation and medicinal aspects, among others. Unfortunately, from Buswell's point of view, most published research is in Chinese.
After joining Shanghai's Institute of Edible Fungi, his first job was to adapt Acta Edulis Fungi, originally in Chinese, into a bilingual version in both Chinese and English.
One of the big problems of China's scientific writing is vagueness, he said. Many essays fail to provide enough information so that readers can duplicate experiments and check findings.
Another big problem is rushing to publish based on insufficient research, he said, citing the academic pressure to publish in order to be promoted. Thus, as in other countries, quantity can trump quality.
Drawn to China, a mycologist's dream, he studies the genetics of edible mushrooms, including the legendary lingzhi fungus (ganoderma lucidem), called the mushroom of immortality.
Buswell, 69, started working in Hong Kong in 1990, then moved to Shanghai in 2003, joining the Institute of Edible Fungi of the Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Science.
Predictably Buswell enjoys eating mushrooms, which he eats at home once or twice a week and always orders at restaurants.
"Caogu (paddy straw mushroom) is a particular favorite," Buswell said. "They have a delicious flavor and texture but they are devilishly difficult to eat with chopsticks."
Caogu is also his favorite in labs. Straw mushroom that grows on straws tastes the best; Planting mushrooms on straws can not only reduce air pollution caused by burning straw as waste, but also making profit for the farmers, Buswell suggests.
But so far, 50kg straws can only produce about 5kg straw mushrooms, with a low biological conversion efficiency of only 10 percent. How to improve the output by interfering the biological conversion efficiency is a major task for Buswell and his colleagues.
He studies mushrooms such as xianggu (straw mushroom) and disseminates China's research achievements to the world.
Buswell said modestly of his award that "it's important to recognize that whatever contribution I might have made would not have been possible without the input and support of many other people." He includes the academy and the municipal government.
His first memory of mushrooms was picking them in fields on Saturday mornings with his father in Leicester, the United Kingdom. Only one or two species were available in markets at the time and because of high prices many families would pick their own. His father taught him which were edible and which were poisonous - the safe ones are usually smooth and have a dull color. They collected field mushrooms and blewitts and if they were lucky they could have a delicious Sunday breakfast fry-up.
Buswell majored in bacteriology at the University of Birmingham and earned his PhD at Texas State University.
His mushroom research didn't take off until 1990 when he joined the biology department at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, headed by the eminent mycologist Chang Shuting. That's when he realized there were so many mushrooms in China, many with health and medicinal benefits.
"Mushrooms are remarkable for many reasons," Buswell said. "They represent a highly nutritious food source, contain bioactive compounds with medicinal properties, and can be cultivated on waste materials, thereby contributing to a better environment."
He was in seventh heaven in 2007 when he attended an international workshop on mycorrhizal mushrooms (those linked with particular plant roots, such as orchids, beech, conifers and other trees and plants).
When a couple of Chinese mushrooms were introduced into British supermarkets, they were soon withdrawn as the public wasn't adventurous. But Buswell's British friends love his mushroom hotpot.
While mushroom research is shrinking in Britain and the United States, it's expanding in China, covering cultivation and medicinal aspects, among others. Unfortunately, from Buswell's point of view, most published research is in Chinese.
After joining Shanghai's Institute of Edible Fungi, his first job was to adapt Acta Edulis Fungi, originally in Chinese, into a bilingual version in both Chinese and English.
One of the big problems of China's scientific writing is vagueness, he said. Many essays fail to provide enough information so that readers can duplicate experiments and check findings.
Another big problem is rushing to publish based on insufficient research, he said, citing the academic pressure to publish in order to be promoted. Thus, as in other countries, quantity can trump quality.
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