Wonder-fungus breakthrough claim

Dr Somyos Kittimankhong, a senior official with the Department of Disease Control, said he had not found any Internet search results showing that the caterpillar fungus, which is priced at several millions of baht a kilo, could be made to germinate in captivity, which he said he had done.

The fungus, which is known locally in Chinese as thang chao and "grass worms" in Thai  can be grown and bred in Thailand. It was never before germinated in captivity, he said. At a press conference yesterday, the doctor showed the germinating fungus in three bottles.

The caterpillar fungus (cordyceps sinensis) breeds in nature through a rare and eccentric process itself - the result of a parasitic relationship between the fungus and the larva of the ghost moth genus thitarodes, several species of which live on the Tibetan plateau.

According to Wikipedia, the fungus germinates in living organisms (in some cases the larvae), kills and mummifies the insect, and then the cordyceps grows from the body of the insect. It is known in the West as a medicinal mushroom and its use has a long history in traditional Chinese medicine as well as traditional Tibetan medicine.

Somyos said he spent three years of trial and error and several millions of his own baht trying to make the fungus germinate before he found out recently that Thai jasmine rice, mixed with other nutrients and some vitamins as plant foodstuff, could make it germinate.

The fungus used was bought from China and kept in a refrigerator modified to a steady temperature.

The doctor said he was thinking about making profit from his discovery but had not yet thought about registering it.