Ganoderma is a medicinal mushroom long used in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Species of ganoderma, commonly called lin-zhi (靈芝) or reishi, have been used for thousands of years to treat a variety of illnesses. Now, researchers have shown that ganoderma microsporum, a species of ganoderma native to Taiwan, may prevent and alleviate COVID-19 infection.
Taiwan researchers found that ganoderma microsporum immunomodulatory protein (GMI), a protein isolated from the mushroom, shows a preventative mechanism against SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) and can effectively block the infection by affecting host cells.
GMI prevents viral infection in two ways: on the one hand, GMI attaches to the spike protein of the COVID-19 virus, and on the other hand, GMI reduces ACE2 expression in host cells….