An agricultural startup located in Puerto Rico, Huerto Rico LLC specializes in production of gourmet mushrooms for local restaurant market with an emphasis on R&D into new strains based on tropical mushroom species that have not been studies inany serious sense. The assembled team has identified six native species of Ganoderma spp.; one of which species has not previously been described in literature. The common name for mushrooms of the genus Ganoderma eishi is Tand: known as the 'mushroom of immortality' in Asia where it is documented as having been consumed for millennia (Hapuarachchi et al 2018 Azizi et al 2012). Although Ganoderma-based products are widely used worldwide, natural supplements are a poorly regulated industry and several species are sold under the name "Reishi" (Zhou et al. 2011Hobbs 2017 Hapuarachchi et al 2018 Wu et al. 2017). The preliminary results of Huerto Rico's team show that not all Reishi are "created equal". Knowing which species are being grown and their chemical profile is important when making claims about the commercial and biological benefitsof these products. Therefore, the goals for this Phase I project are to: 1) develop improved cultivation methods by assessing suitable sub-strates for cultivation of (??Ganoderma tuberculosum Murrill Ganoderma aff.multipileum Ding Hou Ganoderma multiplicatum (Mont.) Pat. Ganoderma martinicense Welti& Courtec. Ganoderma subamboinense Henn.??) and the newly discovered endemic subgenus of Ganoderma puertorricencis. 2) Evaluate the biochemical profile and phyto-chemical content of each species and compare them to that of Ganoderma lucidum to assess their biological activity (e.g. antioxidant levels anticancer properties) and identify novel chemical structures that may increase the effectiveness and overall quality of Ganoderma natural products. The long-term goal of this proposal is to create a new agricultural product with improved biological properties based on neotropical Ganoderma subspecies which will help improve the overall quality ofGanoderma-based products grown and manufactured in the United States
