Dear Colleagues,

The commercial value of fungal natural products is increasing globally. The attractiveness is often related to the health-beneficial properties of bioactive compounds found in fungi. These microorganisms attract attention also as the possible participants of the plant wastes biodestruction processes known for the xylotrophic basidiomycetes, as well as the producers of unique complex of biologically active substances, frequently called mycochemicals. Significant achievements have been made in the development of fungal artificial cultivation exhibiting multiple advantages as for the processes of subsequent isolation, separation, and purification of natural products from fungi.

In recent decades, various fungal products have received great interest and seen applications in many fields, from pharmaceutics to food and agriculture. Based on the encouraging research about culinary–medicinal mushrooms, filamentous, plant endophytic fungi as a source of natural substances, a great deal of effort has been focused on discovering natural and modified fungal products for the development of functional foods and dietary supplements.

With the development of the research and application of various separation and purification techniques, the complex structure and various biological activities of fungal metabolites have been recognized. This Special Issue focuses on scientific papers dealing with various complementary studies needed to cover and enhance all of abovementioned subjects.

We encourage the submission of research or review articles focusing on the chemical composition, characteristics of biosynthesis, effect, and use of fungal natural products, both low-molecular-weight secondary metabolites of fungi and their biopolymeric compounds. Papers dealing with fungal natural products with improved biotechnological capacity through analytical, molecular, biochemical, agricultural or technological approaches, innovative uses in food and feed science are particularly welcome.

Original research articles and review articles should be focused on, but not limited to, the following topics:

(1) Isolation, separation, and purification of natural products from fungi.

(2) Characterization of the chemical composition and structural properties of the total pool of fungal metabolites.

(3) Studies of the properties, structural peculiarities, and biotechnological use of the extracellular compounds of mushrooms.

(4) Exploration of the peculiarities of biosynthesis of the mycochemicals, a structure–activity relationship for fungal products.

(5) Elucidation of the biochemical differences of fungal species by the properties of secondary metabolites spectrum leading to stress-resistance, delignifying ability, other types of vital activity.

(6) Research into fungal species capable of producing abundantly the substances of chemical groups (phenolics, indolics, terpenoids, lipidic low-molecular compounds, etc.) at the submerged cultivation.

(7) The potential applications of fungal natural products in the food, pharmaceutical, agricultural, and other areas.

Dr. Olga Tsivileva
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Processes is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• natural products from fungi
• analytical techniques application
• chemical modifications
• biological activity
• structure-activity relationship
• in vivo and in vitro studies
• fungal products application