Industrially important natural products of fungi

Fungi are able to produce many different types of metabolite that are of commercial importance. These include antibiotics (e.g. penicillin and cephalosporin) and immunosuppressants (cyclosporins) important in medicine, enzymes that are used in the food industry (e.g. a-amylase, rennin), other enzymes (e.g. cellulases, catalase), acids (e.g. lac- tic, citric), and several other products.
Protein extracted from fungi is also an important commercial product. In the 1960s protein from yeasts (single-cell protein) was developed. Currently, fungal protein extracted from Fusarium graminearum, known as Quorn is a useful meat alternative.