The Star, Malaysia : Langkawi

Tuesday, May 06, 2003

Langkawi : Fungi

On an old logging trail in the Mat Cincang forest, fungi sprouted from soil, tree trunks and even rotting leaves. The previous night’s downpour had created a conducive environment for them to grow, literally in a matter of hours. Some were big, while others were no more than 3mm long.

For the Universiti Malaya team studying fungi, the haul was bountiful. Before long, they ran out of plastic containers to pack fungus samples.

At the end of the expedition, Dr Noorlidah Abdullah’s group had gathered 150 specimens from seven sites. So far, 70 species have been recorded from 22 families.

“It is too early to say if there are new records or new species in the collection,” says the mycologist (fungus expert). “But Langkawi hosts diverse species of macrofungi for its size. Many of the specimens have not been collected before in mainland forests where I have worked such as Pasoh, Endau-Rompin, Kuala Selangor and Gombak.”

The difference in species, she adds, could be due to the limestone habitat found on the island, the extent of collection and weather conditions during sampling.

Neither plants nor animals, fungi make up their own kingdom on Earth. They range in size from the microscopic to a species that is known to spread over 12ha. They consume other organisms for nutrition since, unlike plants, they cannot produce their own food. Mycologists estimate that Earth may harbour as many as 1.5 million fungus species but only a fraction have been described.

The mushrooms that we see sprouting from the ground are actually the fruiting bodies of a fungus. The vegetative part of fungi, called mycelium, is a mass of thread-like filaments which are spread out over the host. Some fungi are choosy over their hosts, so different mushrooms are found on different tree roots.

Apart from recording the species of Langkawi fungi, Noorlidah will explore them for natural products in collaboration with other scientists. In the laboratory, tissues were taken from specimens and grown in a culture. These would be screened for bioactive compounds which are anti-bacterial, anti-tumour and anti-fungal. Some species such as the Ganoderma (lingzhi) fungus produce enzymes which can degrade wood and be used to clean wastewater.