{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,21]],"date-time":"2026-08-21T04:26:54Z","timestamp":1787286414945,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":25,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"8","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,19]],"date-time":"2026-08-19T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1787097600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100002641","name":"Konkuk University","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100002641","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/025h1m602","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["J. Fungi","JoF"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Ganoderma lucidum is a medicinal mushroom widely recognized as a source of bioactive metabolites, particularly triterpenoids. Although most studies have focused on fruiting bodies and spores, the potential of cultured mycelial biomass as a source of functional secondary metabolites remains less explored. In this study, we isolated and characterized polycarpol from the mycelia of G. lucidum and evaluated its anti-melanogenic activity in B16F10 murine melanoma cells. Dried mycelia obtained after liquid culture were extracted with 70% ethanol, partitioned with ethyl acetate, and purified by repeated chromatographic separation. The isolated compound was identified as polycarpol by LC\u2013ESI\u2013MS, HR-MS\/MS, and NMR spectroscopy, together with comparison with previously reported spectroscopic data. The anti-melanogenic activity of polycarpol was evaluated in \u03b1-MSH-stimulated B16F10 murine melanoma cells, a commonly used cellular model of melanogenesis. Polycarpol reduced \u03b1-melanocyte-stimulating hormone-induced cellular tyrosinase activity and melanin production at concentrations that did not markedly affect cell viability. Notably, 2 \u03bcg\/mL (4.54 \u03bcM) polycarpol showed a melanin-inhibitory effect comparable to that of arbutin. Western blot analysis showed that polycarpol decreased the expression of microphthalmia-associated transcription factor, tyrosinase, and tyrosinase-related protein-1. In addition, polycarpol suppressed CREB phosphorylation and modulated the MAPK signaling pathways. These findings suggest that polycarpol inhibits melanogenesis through regulation of MITF-associated melanogenic signaling. Overall, this study demonstrates that cultured G. lucidum mycelia can produce anti-melanogenic triterpenoids and highlights cultured mycelial biomass as a controllable fungal material for exploring anti-melanogenic triterpenoids, although further optimization is required to improve production efficiency.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/jof12080625","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,19]],"date-time":"2026-08-19T14:07:34Z","timestamp":1787148454000},"page":"625","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Isolation and Anti-Melanogenic Activity of Polycarpol from Ganoderma lucidum Mycelia: Expanding the Functional Potential of Cultured Mycelial Biomass"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6133-1127","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Che-Hwon","family":"Park","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medicinal Biosciences, College of Biomedicinal and Health Science, Konkuk University, Chungju 27478, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0009-5521-1351","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sung-Chul","family":"Lee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medicinal Biosciences, College of Biomedicinal and Health Science, Konkuk University, Chungju 27478, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rae-Won","family":"Kang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medicinal Biosciences, College of Biomedicinal and Health Science, Konkuk University, Chungju 27478, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8392-4772","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Young-Jin","family":"Park","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medicinal Biosciences, College of Biomedicinal and Health Science, Konkuk University, Chungju 27478, Republic of Korea"},{"name":"Natural Product Bio-Convergence Research Center, Konkuk University, Chungju 27478, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,19]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Galappaththi, M.C.A., Patabendige, N.M., Premarathne, B.M., Hapuarachchi, K.K., Tibpromma, S., Dai, D.Q., Suwannarach, N., Rapior, S., and Karunarathna, S.C. 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