WELCOME ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE
MYCOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF NIGERIA
PROFESSOR BENJAMIN AFOLABI OSO
AT THE SIXTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE SOCIETY
HOLDING AT THE NNAMDI AZIKIWE UNIVERSITY, AWKA
ANAMBRA STATE.
10-13 JUNE, 2013.
I welcome you all to the sixth annual conference of the Mycological Society of Nigeria holding at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State, Nigeria. I wish to thank Professor Ralph Okigbo for saving us the usual headache which we experience every year in finding a hosting institution for our conference. We were very glad when, at the Annual General Meeting of the Society in Calabar last year, Professor Okigbo volunteered that his Institution, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, would host us this year. On behalf of the society I hereby express our profound appreciation to Professor Okigbo for taking up this challenge.
May I emphasise here that we have not jettisoned our earlier agreement that every geographical zone in the country should be given the opportunity of hosting the annual conference. Our conferences so far have been confined to the Southern part of the country due to the security situation in the north. As soon as conditions improve we will implement this. In this connection too, I wish to call on members to be prepared to host our conferences voluntarily or whenever called upon to do so. MYCOSON is a national society. Irrespective of where our annual conference is being held, members should endeavor to attend. They should attract other mycologists who are not yet members to join the society.
The fifth annual conference, held at the University of Calabar was a huge success. I wish to acknowledge the tremendous support given to the society by the staff and students of the university and also warmly thank members of the local organizing committee headed by Dr. T.A. Owolabi for a job well done.
The sixth annual conference is here and we are assembled once more to present and discuss our research activities in the past year and put our heads together on how to take advantage of this all important discipline in solving our pressing national problems and making life more comfortable for the populace.
The theme of this year’s conference,
“FUNGAL BIOTECHNOLOGY FOR BIORESOURCES DEVELOPMENT AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT”, is a challenging one. There is no doubt that fungi play important role in bioresources development particularly in food and agriculture, medicine, industry and environmental management. They are used in many industrial processes, such as the production of vitamins, enzymes, pigments, polysaccharides, lipids, polyhydric alcohols etc. Molecular manipulations have been added to mutational techniques as a means of increasing yields of microbial processes and in the discovery of new drugs. From time immemorial both filamentous fungi and yeasts have been used to produce beer, wine, bread and cheese. However, the twentieth century has yielded a series of products made through fermentation processes, including enzymes, solvents, antibiotics, amino acids, vitamins, polymers etc. The development of molecular biology techniques has provided new ways to use molds and yeasts as microbial cell factories for the production of proteins, pigments, antibiotics, fatty acids etc. Recombinant fungi are one of the main sources of enzymes for industrial applications, particularly in the food, textiles, detergents, paper and pulp and leather industries.
Fungi are used extensively to produce industrial chemicals such as citric, gluconic, lactic and malic acids and industrial enzymes, such as lipases used in biological detergents, cellulases used in making cellulosic ethanol and amylases, invertases, proteases and xylanases.
Fungal proteases and lipases are usually incorporated into detergents to remove stains. Fungal cellulases have been successfully used for removing the short fibres from fabric surface making it smooth and glossy and increasing the brightness.
In the leather industry Proteases and lipases are now extensively used in the processing of hides and skins. Their most important applications are in soaking, dehairing, degreasing and baiting. Proteases enhance water uptake by dissolving intrafibrillary proteins that cement the fibres together and prevent water penetration. Lipases are also used to disperse fats as an alternative to degreasing with solvents.
In the paper industry, wood pulp processing has involved the extensive use of chemicals which can lead to problems with an effluent treatment and environmental pollution. Hence the development of enzyme-based technology for pulp processing and paper manufacture has major advantages. Fungal enzymes can be used in several stages of pulp and paper processing to enhance pulp digestion, improve drainage rates in water removal during paper formation, increase fibre flexibility, selectively remove xylan without affecting other components, remove resins, enhance bleaching, remove contaminants such as in the de-inking of high-quality waste paper, and fibrillate or increase interfibre bonding in chemical pulps and herbaceous fibres. The fungal enzymes used in these processes include cellulases, hemicellulases, pectnases and lipases.
In the food industry, lipases are used in the production of baked foods, fruit juices and cheeses, among others. Of particular importance here are the recombinant lipases of Fusarium oxysporum, Rhizomucor miehi and Thermomyces lanuginosus obtained by cloning their lipase genes into Aspergillus oryzae genome.
Resulting from the capacity of fungi to produce a wide range of natural products with antimicrobial or other biological activities, many species have long being used and are still being used for industrial production of antibiotics, vitamins, anti-cancer as well as cholesterol-lowering drugs. Methods have now been developed for the genetic engineering which have made possible the metabolic engineering of fungal species. The genetic modification of yeast species has opened up ways of pharmaceutical production that are potentially more efficient than production by the original source organisms.
Many species produce metabolites that are major sources of pharmacologically active drugs among which are the antibiotics such as the penicillins and other antibiotics produced by fungi including ciclosporin, commonly used as an immunosuppressant during transplant surgery, and fucidic acid, used to help control infection from methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacterium. These antibiotics have widespread use in the treatment of bacterial diseases including leprosy, tuberculosis, syphilis and many others.
Cyclosporine A, an antifungal peptide produced by the fungus, Tolypocladium nivenum, is used in heart, liver and kidney transplants because of its immunosuppressive activity. Taxol, produced by the fungus Taxomyces andreanae, is an anti-cancer agent used for the treatment of breast and ovarian cancer.
In traditional medicine some mushrooms are used as therapeutics in a number of countries including China. Such mushrooms include Agaricus subrufescens and Ganoderma lucidum. Compounds produced by these and other fungi that have inhibitory biological effects against viruses and cancer cells have been indentified. Metabolites, such as ergotamine, polysaccharide-K and B-lactam antibiotics, are used in clinical medicine. Lentinan, a clinical drug used in cancer treatments in a number of countries, including Japan is produced by the shiitake mushroom. Polysaccharide-K (Krestin) derived from Trametes versicolor is used in Europe and Japan as adjuvant for cancer therapy.
In agriculture, fungi play an important role in increasing soil fertility. They produce an array of enzymes that break down dead organic matter in the soil releasing the nutrients for plants growth. Hence they are actively involved in nutrient re-cycling without which life on earth cannot continue. Some fungi also produce antibiotics in the soil that are antagonistic to plant pathogenic microorganisms, thereby protecting the roots of crops from infection by pathogens. These fungi include Malbranchea pulchella var. sulfurea, Talaromyces emersonii and Trichoderma spp. among others.
Treatment of animal feed materials (grains, vegetable and forage) with cellulases and other hydrolytic enzymes is practised to improve their nutritive values. Better digestability, weight gain and milk production have been observed in animals fed on enzymatically treated feed.
Fungi are also used as research tools. Several discoveries in biology have been made by researchers using fungi as test organisms. For example, the one-gene-one-enzyme hypothesis was formulated by scientists who used the bread mould, Neurospora crassa to test their biochemical theories. Aspergillus nidulans and the yeasts, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Saccharomyces pombe have been used in investigating issues in eukaryolic cell biology and genetics. Other fungi have been used to address specific biological questions relevant to medicine, plant pathology and industrial uses. These include Candida abicans, (a human pathogen) Magnaporthe grisea (a plant pathogen) and Pichia pastoris (a yeast widely used for eucaryotic protein expression).
Fungi along with bacteria, are man’s greatest allies in the fight against environmental pollution. They are actively involved in the break down of heaps of garbage that constitute nuisance in the environment. The mycelium secretes extracellular enzymes and acids that breakdown the organic matter into compost which are rich in nutrients that can be used in agriculture.
The role of fungi in the bioremediation of oil polluted environments (soil and water) and break down of toxic materials cannot be overemphasised.
These are some of the ways in which fungi and their metabolites have been used to advantage by man. It is believed that more light will be thrown into this as the conference progresses with a view to stimulating interest in further researches by participants in this area of study.
I am happy to inform you that on my return to Ado-Ekiti after the last conference held in Calabar, the Founder, Afe Babalola University, Aare Afe Babalola CON to whom I had earlier introduced the society, donated a sum of N250, 000.00 (Two hundred and fifty thousand naira) to the society. The cheque had since been paid into the account of the Society. May God continue to bless him and grant him long life, sound health and the means to actualize his laudable dream of changing the face of education in this country for the benefit of the present and future generations.
Ladies and gentlemen, I bring greetings from Professor R.O. Alabi, the initiator of the formation of this Society who has not been able to attend any of our annual conferences since the inauguration of the society at the University of Ado-Ekiti (now Ekiti State University) in 2006 due to ill health. He has continued to show keen interest in the progress of the society, while Professor Onifade and I have continued to up-date him on our activities. In fact, he wanted me to bring him to this conference, but I had to prevail on him not to stress himself.
At this juncture, ladies and gentlemen, I wish to express the profund appreciation of the society to the Vice-Chancellor, the management, staff and students of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University for hosting us and putting the facilities needed to ensure the success of the conference at our disposal. I also wish to thank Professor Okigbo and Members of the Local Organising Committee for the elaborate preparations they have made for the conference.
My appreciations also go to members of the governing council of the society for their cooperation and high level of responsibility in handling the affairs of the society. In particular I want to thank Professor Olufolaji, the editor-in-chief of our journal, for putting in everything at his disposal to ensure that our journals are printed on time. I also appreciate him for taking it upon himself to take a trip at his own expense to the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka a short while ago to assess, on behalf of the society, the level of preparation by the Local Organizing Committee and also give them his support and words of encouragement. His observations during the visit prompted him to make elaborate contacts with members nationwide, an action that led to the submission of a huge number of abstracts for the conference, a lot more than hitter-to collected.
I also wish to appreciate Professor Kayode Onifade for his prompt action at all times.
Ladies and gentlemen, I welcome you once more to this conference and urge you to participate fully in all the conference deliberations and other activities throughout the duration of the conference.
Thank you.
Professor Benjamin Afolabi Oso
Director of Research,
Afe Babalola University,
Ado-Ekiti.
Ekiti State, Nigeria.