100 Strains of Agarikon

Announcement of Over 100 Strains of Agarikon in Culture00:00

Paul Stamets announces a personal milestone: his team now has more than 100 strains of Agarikon in culture. This involves taking a small piece of tissue from the living mushroom, placing it into petri dishes, and banking them in liquid nitrogen.

Achieving more than 100 strains took more than 40 years, hundreds of thousands of hours foraging in old-growth forests to find them. Most strains from his personal collection come from habitats destroyed by fire or logging, or found on the ground.

Examples of Collected Strains00:30

Displays specimens:

• Cloud form
• Columnar form
• One strain approximately 35 years old, showing annual growth rings on a large old Douglas fir log.
• Another solid specimen growing on a tree hundreds of years old; culture obtained from tissue on the underside.

By culturing these, they've saved them from potential extinction. About 20 strains are known not to exist anymore in old-growth forests. They clone them to preserve genetic samples for studying health benefits.

Research Background and Achievement01:01

References his research on Agarikon since his TED Talk in 2008 (recommends checking it out). Calls this a huge achievement in his life: more than 100 strains of Agarikon.