The screening of 39 culinary and wild mushrooms showed
remarkable results, especially the variability of the beta-glucan
contents in different species and the high levels of beta-glucans
in species such as Boletus edulis (Bull. ex Fr., stipe part) or Piptoporus
betulinus (Bull. ex Fr.) Karst. with more than 50 g/100 g dm.
These result are in good accordance and support the work of
McCleary and Draga (2016), who screened several mushroom species
with the Megazyme assay
Some mushrooms seem to be composed of unusually high
amounts of alpha-glucans; in particular, the cap probes seem to
be formed of polysaccharides with alpha-bindings: The species
Boletus erythropus Pers. showed unusually high amounts of
alpha-glucans: 4.25 g/100 g dm in cap and 12.16 g/100 g dm in
stipe. Thus, alpha-glucan accounts for approximately a quarter of
all glucan in cap material and they account for almost 50% of the
stipe. In addition, the cap probe of Phallus impudicus (L. ex Fr.)
showed a very high alpha-glucan content in its cap, which equals
up to about half of all glucans (30.84 g/100 g dm). In addition,
the species Coprinus comatus (O.F. Müll.) Pers. shows a high
alpha-glucan content in its cap of 4.52 g/100 g, which equals
approximately 30% of the total glucan content. Kuehneromyces