Genus of fungi
Cordyceps
Cordyceps militaris
Scientific classification
Domain:
Eukaryota
Kingdom:
Fungi
Division:
Ascomycota
Class:
Sordariomycetes
Order:
Hypocreales
Family:
Cordycipitaceae
Genus:
Cordyceps
Fr. (1818)
Type species
Cordyceps militaris
Species
[1]
Cordyceps acridophila
Cordyceps albocitrina
Cordyceps amoene -rosea
Cordyceps ampullacea
Cordyceps bifusispora
Cordyceps blackwelliae
Cordyceps brasiliensis
Cordyceps cateniannulata
Cordyceps cateniobliqua
Cordyceps chiangdaoensis
Cordyceps cicadae
Cordyceps coccidioperitheciata
Cordyceps coleopterorum
Cordyceps confragosa
Cordyceps cuncunae
Cordyceps cylindrica
Cordyceps farinosa
Cordyceps fratricida
Cordyceps fumosorosea
Cordyceps ghanensis
Cordyceps grylli
Cordyceps guangdongensis
Cordyceps gunnii
Cordyceps gunnii var. minor
Cordyceps henleyae
Cordyceps hepialidicola
Cordyceps hesleri
Cordyceps ignota
Cordyceps imagamiana
Cordyceps isarioides
Cordyceps javanica
Cordyceps kirkii
Cordyceps koreana
Cordyceps kurijimeansis
Cordyceps kyushuensis
Cordyceps lepidopterorum
Cordyceps locusticola
Cordyceps locustiphila
Cordyceps memorabilis
Cordyceps militaris
Cordyceps morakotii
Cordyceps nakazawai
Cordyceps nidus
Cordyceps ninchukispora
Cordyceps ningxiaensis
Cordyceps nirtolii
Cordyceps ochraceostromata
Cordyceps pleuricapitata
Cordyceps polyarthra
Cordyceps poprawskii
Cordyceps pruinosa
Cordyceps pseudonelumboides
Cordyceps rosea
Cordyceps roseostromata
Cordyceps scarabaeucika
Cordyceps sinensis See
Ophiocordyceps sinensis .
Cordyceps spegazzinii
Cordyceps sphingum
Cordyceps submilitaris
Cordyceps taishanensis
Cordyceps takaomontana
Cordyceps tenuipes
Cordyceps unilateralis See
Ophiocordyceps unilateralis .
Cordyceps is a
genus of
ascomycete
fungi (sac fungi) that includes about 600 worldwide species. Diverse variants of cordyceps have had more than 1,500 years of use in
Chinese medicine .
[2] Most Cordyceps species are
endoparasitoids , parasitic mainly on
insects and other
arthropods (they are thus
entomopathogenic fungi ); a few are parasitic on other fungi.
[3]
The generic name Cordyceps is derived from the
ancient Greek κορδύλη kordýlē , meaning "club", and the
Latin -ceps , meaning "-headed".
[4] The
genus has a worldwide distribution, with most of the approximately 600 known species
[5] being from Asia (notably Nepal, China, Japan, Bhutan, Korea, Vietnam, and Thailand).
There are two recognized
subgenera :
[6]
Cordyceps subgen. Cordyceps Fr. 1818
[7]
Cordyceps subgen. Cordylia
Tul. &
C. Tul. 1865
[8]
Cordyceps
sensu stricto are the
teleomorphs of a number of
anamorphic ,
entomopathogenic fungus "genera" such as
Beauveria (
Cordyceps bassiana ),
Septofusidium , and
Lecanicillium .
[9]
Cordyceps subgen. Epichloe was at one time a subgenus, but is now regarded as a separate genus,
Epichloë .
[6]
Cordyceps subgen. Ophiocordyceps was at one time a subgenus defined by morphology.
Nuclear DNA sampling done in 2007 shows that members, including "
C. sinensis " and "
C. unilateralis ", as well as some others not placed in the subgenus, were distantly related to most of the remainder of species then placed in
Cordyceps (e.g. the type species C. militaris ). As a result, it became its own genus, absorbing new members.
[9]
[10]
The 2007 study also peeled off
Metacordyceps (anamorph
Metarhizium ,
Pochonia ) and
Elaphocordyceps . A number of species remain unclearly assigned and provisionally retained in Cordyceps
sensu lato .
[9]
When Cordyceps attacks a host, the
mycelium invades and eventually replaces the host tissue, while the elongated fruit body (
ascocarp ) may be cylindrical, branched, or of complex shape. The ascocarp bears many small, flask-shaped
perithecia containing
asci . These, in turn, contain thread-like
ascospores , which usually break into fragments and are presumably infective.
[11]
Cordycepin
Polysaccharide components and
cordycepin isolated from
C. militaris are under
basic research , but more advanced
clinical research has been limited and too low in quality to identify any therapeutic potential of cordyceps components.
[12]
Along with
Ophiocordyceps , Cordyceps has long been used in
traditional Chinese medicine in the belief it can be used to treat diseases.
[13] There is no strong scientific evidence for such uses.
[12]
Cordyceps has appeared throughout popular culture:
It is the cause of the pandemic that wipes out most of humanity in
Mike Carey 's postapocalyptic novel
The Girl with All the Gifts (2014) and its
film adaptation (2016).
[16]
In the book The Ghost Woods by
C. J. Cooke , a Cordyceps fungus gains sentience and uses human hosts to manipulate their behaviour into helping it reproduce by finding further hosts.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Cordyceps .
^
"Cordyceps " . NCBI taxonomy . Bethesda, MD:
National Center for Biotechnology Information . Retrieved 4 September 2019 .
^ Buenz, E. J.; B. A. Bauer; Osmundson, T. W. & Motley, T. J. (2005).
"The traditional Chinese medicine Cordyceps sinensis and its effects on apoptotic homeostasis" .
Journal of Ethnopharmacology . 96 (1–2): 19–29.
doi :
10.1016/j.jep.2004.09.029 .
PMID
15588646 .
^ Nikoh, N (April 2000).
"Interkingdom host jumping underground: phylogenetic analysis of entomoparasitic fungus of the genus cordyceps" . Mol Biol Evol . 17 (4): 629–38.
doi :
10.1093/oxfordjournals.molbev.a026341 .
PMID
10742053 .
^
"Cordyceps" . www.merriam-webster.com . Retrieved 22 August 2023 .
^ Sung, Gi-Ho; Nigel L. Hywel-Jones; Jae-Mo Sung; J. Jennifer Luangsa-ard; Bhushan Shrestha & Joseph W. Spatafora (2007).
"Phylogenetic classification of Cordyceps and the clavicipitaceous fungi" . Stud Mycol . 57 (1): 5–59.
doi :
10.3114/sim.2007.57.01 .
PMC
2104736 .
PMID
18490993 .
^
a
b
"Cordyceps " . Index Fungorum . Retrieved 4 September 2019 .
^ Elias Magnus Fries, Observ. mycol. (Havniae) 2: 316 (cancellans) (1818)
^ Edmond Tulasne & Charles Tulasne, Select. fung. carpol. (Paris) 3: 20 (1865)
^
a
b
c Sung, GH; Hywel-Jones, NL; Sung, JM; Luangsa-Ard, JJ; Shrestha, B; Spatafora, JW (2007).
"Phylogenetic classification of Cordyceps and the clavicipitaceous fungi" . Studies in Mycology . 57 : 5–59.
doi :
10.3114/sim.2007.57.01 .
PMC
2104736 .
PMID
18490993 .
^ Holliday, John; Cleaver, Matt (2008).
"Medicinal Value of the Caterpillar Fungi Species of the Genus Cordyceps (Fr.) Link (Ascomycetes). A Review" (PDF) . International Journal of Medicinal Mushrooms . 10 (3). New York: Begell House: 219–234.
doi :
10.1615/IntJMedMushr.v10.i3.30 .
ISSN
1521-9437 . Archived from
the original (PDF) on 22 February 2012. Retrieved 10 March 2009 .
^ Shrestha, Bhushan; Han, Sang-Kuk; Sung, Jae-Mo; Sung, Gi-Ho (2012).
"Fruiting Body Formation of Cordyceps militaris from Multi-Ascospore Isolates and Their Single Ascospore Progeny Strains" . Mycobiology . 40 (2): 100–106.
doi :
10.5941/MYCO.2012.40.2.100 .
ISSN
1229-8093 .
PMC
3408298 .
PMID
22870051 .
^
a
b
"Cordyceps" . Drugs.com. 12 July 2023. Retrieved 15 September 2023 .
^
"Chinese Medicine Specimen Database" . libproject.hkbu.edu.hk . Retrieved 6 March 2023 .
^ Kyle Hill (25 June 2013).
"The Fungus that Reduced Humanity to The Last of Us" . Scientific American . Retrieved 4 May 2021 .
^ D'Addario, Daniel (10 January 2023).
" 'The Last of Us,' From 'Chernobyl's' Craig Mazin, Is a Promising, Moving Zombie Saga: TV Review" . Variety . Retrieved 15 February 2023 .
^ Bachman, Mara (12 April 2020).
"The Girl With All The Gifts: Fungal Infection & Hungries Explained" . ScreenRant . Retrieved 23 October 2023 .