Prominent BHU botanists discover new genus of fungus for cancer treatment

Prominent scientists and botanists from three renowned institutes - Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Agharkar Research Institute (ARI), Pune and Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI) have together discovered a new genus of fungus from the samples collected from Uttarakhand. After two years of elaborate research, BHU botanists have successfully gathered complete information upon the fungus lineage. 

This research was recently published in a prestigious Phytotaxa Journal, on November 3.

Raghvendra Singh (Senior Assisentance Professor, BHU) with his team of four researchers, along with Paras Nath Singh (Agharkar Research Institute) and Shambhu Kumar (Kerala Forest Research Institute) made this project a reality. The new genus of fungus is named 'Neokamalomyces Indicus’, after Prof Kamal of Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gorakhpur University, Gorakhpur, an eminent scientist from India.

For this research, samples of banyan leaves diseased by a fungus were collected from Uttarakhand, in July, 2019. This discovery was made using modern polyphagic techniques, which are considered to be the most appropriate and important criteria in identifying organisms.

Like animals, plant cells mutate! In fact plants can and do suffer from tumours, where cells become disorganised and divide uncontrollably. The identification of such tumours can help take remedial measures before grave symptoms. Here's where, this prominent research work can play an important role for scientists working in the field of biotechnology and help them in developing anti-fungal compounds for the treatment of different types cancer.