Interactions
Schizophyllum commune is a non-edible mushroom. It is a decomposer, breaking down dead deciduous trees. Examples of these would be the Sugar Maple, the Silver Maple, and the Cottonwood Tree.
There have also been a few cases where Schizophyllum commune has been found growing in the nasal cavity of humans (mostly children) to the point where there were fruiting bodies starting to grow! Talk about scary. (Castro, et al)
But, where there are negatives there are also positives. This basidiomycete has been tested in the use of cancer treatment. An isolate called schizophyllan is derived through the process of oxidation (Ooi, Liu). According to the study by Ooi and Liu, the “antitumor activity of schizophyllan is mainly due to host-mediated immune responses”.
S. commune growing on agar with new fruiting bodies Picture by: Tom Volk
According to Jayakumar and his colleagues,
schizophyllan not only has antitumor properties, but also has
antimicrobial properties.
There is also another study done where a hemolysin, called schizolysin, is isolated from Schizophyllum commune (Chun-Hua, et al). Schizolysin was used to inhibit HIV. Unfortunately, it was only under specific conditions that it actually worked to inhibit the virus.
Along with these exciting finds, a protease from Schizophyllum commune has the ability to stifle coagulation of blood. It does this by “suppressing aggregation of fibrin, but not platelets” (Lu, et al).