Celebrating World Mushroom Day: Applications in Agriculture, Biotechnology and Health

Mushrooms are important biological resources connecting food production, agriculture, biotechnology, environmental sustainability, and human health. Edible, medicinal, exotic, and underutilized species provide nutritious foods and bioactive compounds, while their mycelia support fermentation, biomaterials, bioprocessing, bioremediation, and waste valorization. Mushroom cultivation can transform agro-industrial residues into valuable products, and spent mushroom substrate may support soil improvement and crop production. However, research across these applications remains fragmented. This Research Topic, launched in recognition of World Mushroom Day on 15 October, will connect scientific, technological, environmental, and societal advances across the mushroom value chain.This Research Topic aims to advance mushroom research across agriculture, biotechnology, nutrition, health, and environmental science. It will promote improvements in strains, substrates, cultivation, product quality, postharvest preservation, and the use of agro-industrial residues. It will also encourage multi-omics research, strengthen evidence on nutritional and functional properties, and support the safety assessment, standardization, scale-up, and adoption of mushroom-based technologies. Contributions highlighting food security, rural development, sustainability, human well-being, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals are especially welcome.To gather further insights into edible, medicinal, exotic, and underutilized mushrooms, we welcome contributions addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:*Strain selection, breeding, and cultivation systems*Substrate formulation, productivity, quality, and preservation*Fermentation, enzymes, biomaterials, and bioprocessing*Bioremediation, mycoremediation, and circular-economy applications*Sustainable reuse of spent mushroom substrate*Nutritional composition, functional foods, and bioactive compounds*Safety, mechanisms of action, and potential health benefits*Genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, metabolomic, and multi-omics studies*Food security, rural development, consumer acceptance, and sustainability*Industrial innovation, technology transfer, and scale-upThis Research Topic welcomes Original Research, Reviews, Systematic Reviews, Mini Reviews, Methods, Perspectives, and Brief Research Reports. Topic editors: Diego Cunha Zied, Lucas Da Silva Alves Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/85142/celebrating-world-mushroom-day-applications-in-agriculture-biotechnology-and-health