Cornell Professor Finds Fungus Fascinating

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APRIL 25, 12:01

Professor Finds Fungus Fascinating

By MARY ESCH

Associated Press Writer

Be grateful for fungus.

Sure, it's to blame for athlete's foot, moldy bread and that slimy mildew on

your shower curtain. But without fungi, there would be no beer, no

penicillin, no Gorgonzola cheese. And we'd be up to our necks in dead plants

and animals if there were no fungi to rot them.

In fact, fungus has had a key role in human history. Just ask Hudler,

professor of plant pathology at Cornell University.

Better yet, read his book.

In ``Magical Mushrooms, Mischievous Molds'' (Princeton University Press,

$29.95), Hudler shares an infectious fascination with fungus that overtook

him like a religious conversion 30 years ago, when he was in forestry

school.

The epiphany came as he peered through a microscope at mold spores, ``lined

up in a row like eggs inside a balloon.'' At that moment, Hudler says, ``my

life took on new meaning.'' He was hooked on fungus.

For the past 10 years, Hudler has shared his fungal fervor with Cornell

students in a popular undergraduate course by the same name as his book.

Hudler introduces the book with a series of stories demonstrating the role

of fungus in history. For instance, the infamous witch trials in

Massachusetts had their roots in fungus-infected rye that sickened people

and cattle with symptoms attributed to evil spells.

Ergot poisoning from moldy grain also was responsible for numerous epidemics

in Europe over the centuries. The hideous illness, sometimes described as

``Saint 's Fire,'' caused burning pain before limbs would blister,

rot and fall off.

Hudler goes on to tell how a chemist at Sandoz Pharmaceuticals in the 1930s

isolated a potent hallucinogenic compound from the ergot fungus: LSD. It was

enthusiastically embraced by the CIA as a potential mind-control agent in

the 1950s before it became a popular recreational drug.

Some scholars believe the great philosophers of ancient Greece — including

Socrates, Plato, and Homer — gained inspiration through the ceremonial

drinking of a secret, sacred beverage in the temple of Eleusis. The

hallucinogenic purple potion is believed to have contained a crude form of

LSD, derived from ergot-infected grain.

Ergot derivatives also are used in modern migraine medications such as

Cafergot and Ergate.

A toxin produced by another grain mold causes internal bleeding and

strangulation death. The U.S. government accused the Soviet Union of

dropping that toxin in the form of ``yellow rain'' during the Vietnam War.

But some scientists later theorized that what villagers called ``yellow

rain'' was actually the feces of massive swarms of bees, Hudler writes.

Of course, molds aren't the only fungal sources of toxic, hallucinogenic or

medically useful compounds. Mushrooms had a celebrated role in human culture

long before Leary extolled the mind-altering virtues of psilocybin

from ``magical mushrooms'' in the psychedelic '60s.

Several centuries ago in Siberia, Hudler writes, an explorer discovered that

native tribespeople enlivened life in a harsh land by eating hallucinogenic

mushrooms. Those too poor to afford the fungi enjoyed its effects

second-hand — by drinking the urine of the mushroom-eaters.

Some scholars believe the same mushroom — fly agaric — was the Soma, a

mysterious life force worshiped by ancient Hindus and a factor in the

genesis of modern religions.

The Soma was passed from one person to another through urine. It is said to

have had one foot and a red-and-white head — a good description of the fly

agaric, or Amanita muscaria.

There is evidence that the ancient Mayans also used the fly agaric in

shamanic rituals. And some scholars have suggested that the red-topped

mushroom, rather than an apple, was the forbidden fruit in the story of Adam

and Eve.

Interwoven with Hudler's entertaining accounts of the role of fungus in

history, culture, medicine and everyday life are detailed explanations of

the underlying science — including classification, structure, chemistry,

growth habits and other facts of fungal life.

For instance, we learn how a fungus called Phytophthora infestans awakens

from winter dormancy to produce wind-blown spore capsules, which disgorge

swimming spores onto potato plants. The spores germinate, grow threadlike

into the plant, and produce enzymes that digest tissue. Infected potatoes

turn to putrid mush.

That's what happened in 1845, when a devastating blight led to the Irish

potato famine during which more than a million people died.

Lest his readers write off fungi as vile and destructive, Hudler devotes the

latter half of the book to the benefits derived from fungi. Penicillin, for

instance. And cyclosporin, another mold-derived drug which helps prevent

rejection of transplanted organs.

The shiitake mushroom, long used in East Asian medicine as well as cuisine,

produces potent anti-tumor and anti-viral compounds that are being

investigated as treatments for cancer and AIDS. Some common North American

mushrooms also have been shown in clinical trials to have therapeutic

effects against cancer, hypertension and hepatitis B.

Hudler devotes a chapter to the biology of yeast and how its metabolic

processes are put to use in making bread, beer and wine.

``Let me assure you that for all the problems fungi have caused, they have

also extended our lives and made them far more enjoyable,'' Hudler writes.

He invites any reader who remains unconvinced to stop by his office in

Cornell's Plant Science Building.

``We'll chat,'' he writes, ``for as long as it takes.''