The antibiotic penicillin, seen below, has undoubtedly changed the world. Before penicillin, people often died from bacterial infections following injuries or medical procedures. What a lot of people don’t realize is that penicillin is derived from fungi and was discovered by accident.
Penicillin is produced by fungal molds, including Penicillium chrysogenum and Penicillium rubens. It was discovered by Alexander Fleming in 1928 after he noticed that a Penicillium mold had contaminated a culture of Staphylococcus bacteria and inhibited bacterial growth around it. And voila, we now have penicillin.
But that is not the end of the story. Many more antimicrobial compounds can be found in fungi. Specifically, current research is looking into compounds from lion’s mane, reishi, and cordyceps for their antimicrobial properties. This is important because antibiotic resistance has increasingly limited the effectiveness of many existing antibiotics, making the search for new antimicrobial compounds important.
At Brain Wave, we focus on brain health, but also health in general. Let’s examine the current research on the antimicrobial effects of some of the mushrooms used in our proprietary blend.
A review article published last month in the Journal of Proteins and Proteomics (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s42485-026-00216-z) highlighted several functional antimicrobial molecules found in mushrooms that we at Brain Wave use.
For instance, cordycepin from cordyceps exhibits antibacterial properties (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16354395/). It can damage cytoplasmic membranes, causing a loss of membrane integrity and leakage of cellular contents in bacteria such as Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30929229/). Cordycepin can also interact with bacterial DNA, potentially interfering with essential cellular functions and contributing to bacterial cell death.
Reishi mushroom triterpenoids also exhibit antibacterial activity by disrupting essential microbial cellular functions, including oxygen uptake, oxidative phosphorylation, and DNA synthesis (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12313647/).
Lion’s mane brings yet another group of bioactive compounds to the discussion. Hericenones and erinacines from lion’s mane have been investigated for antibacterial activity through mechanisms including disruption of bacterial metabolism, inhibition of essential enzymes, and induction of oxidative stress (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12030463/).
Edible mushrooms are natural reservoirs of diverse bioactive metabolites, including phenolics, terpenoids, β-glucans, polysaccharides, ergosterol derivatives, antimicrobial peptides, lectins, and volatile organic compounds. These compounds can exert antibacterial effects through multiple mechanisms, including membrane disruption and interference with bacterial cell wall and nucleic acid synthesis.
Taken together, these findings show that the antimicrobial potential of fungi did not end with the discovery of penicillin nearly a century ago. Mushrooms contain an enormous variety of bioactive molecules, and researchers are still uncovering how these compounds interact with bacteria and other microorganisms.
Just one more way the mushrooms we use at Brain Wave continue to surprise us.
Until next time, avoid that infection,
Dr. Andy