Recent developments on bioactivities of mushrooms: structure–activity nexus therapeutic potentials

Mushrooms are among the few natural products that have been relied upon for prophylactic and therapeutic applications in human diseases. They have been referred to as forest gems since they can be picked in the wild or better domesticated for appropriate use. Several scientific studies have been conducted to establish claimed potentials or further probe new areas into which mushrooms can find application. Many disciplines, including mycology, microbiology, physiology, chemistry, genetics, and medicine, among others, conduct research on mushrooms. These enable broad and in-depth studies of mushrooms, to include in vitro and in vivo demonstrations of their bioactivity, structural characterization, and isolation of bioactive components. This chapter highlights the bioactive composition of mushrooms by relating structure to bioactivity and demonstrating therapeutic effects on some human diseases using existing literature. The potentials of mushrooms or their products for the treatment or management of diseases, such as tropical illnesses and COVID-19 pandemic, among other issues, have been discussed. Chemistry of bioactive compounds, structure–activity relationships, patents, and analyses of data obtained have been reported and studied for interpretation of results.