Abstract
Minimum global macrofungal species diversity is expected around 49.500 worldwide [1]. Little of macrofungi species have been recently studied for bioactive metabolites [2]. These include polysaccharides, proteins, lipids together with a large diversity of secondary metabolites, i.e., polyphenols, terpenoids, alkaloids. Fungal metabolites represented potential therapeutic agents against many diseases as Alzheimer, diabetes, malaria, infectious diseases and cancer [3-6].We selected macrofungal species (Basidiomycota, Ascomycota) growingin the Mediterranean area to be screened for their biological properties of great interest. Macrofungi have been investigated for their chemical composition using various solvent polarities with extraction yield up than 30%. HPLC and TLC profiling have been performed. In parallel some of the crude extracts have been evaluated for their anti-microbial activity by disc diffusion method and for anti-proliferative activities in HCT116 colon adenocarcinoma cell line. Bioguided purifications of the bioactive extracts are in progress to identify promising therapeutic compounds.