27 T i n e gr e B e n c eT al.: Kombiniran pristop pri ugotavljanju biološke aktivnosti …
Kombiniran pristop pri ugotavljanju biološke aktivnosti gliv 
na primeru vrst Antrodia juniperina in Pyrofomes demidoffii 
z ugotavljanjem njihovega filogenetskega položaja in dejanskega 
antikancerogenega in antiaterogenega delovanja
Combined approach in exploring the biological activity 
of two fungi Antrodia juniperina and Pyrofomes demidoffii, 
based on their phylogenetic position and relation to their 
anti-cancerogenic and anti-atherogenic activity
t i N e g r e b e N c
1
, j a S M i N a Sh u M k o v S k a Di M i t r o v S k a
2
, k a t e r i N a r u S e v S k a
2
, 
h o j k a k r a i g h e r
1
, Mi T k o k a r a d e l e v
2
1
  Slovenian Forestry Institute, Večna pot 2, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia; 
tine.grebenc@gozdis.si
2
  Institute of Biology, Faculty of Natural Science and Mathematics, Arhimedova 5, 
1000 Skopje, Republic of Macedonia
Fruitbodies of basidiomycetes fungi Antrodia juniperina and Pyrofomes demidoffii 
are commonly found on specific wood substrate of Greek juniper occurring exclusively in 
warm regions of Europe (south-eastern Balkan Peninsula and Turkey), with high potential 
for use in human medicine as anti-cancer and anti-atherogenic drugs of natural origin. 
Preliminary results of tests for the biological activity of dried and homogenised mature 
sporocarps of basidiomycete fungi Antrodia juniperina and Pyrofomes demidoffii, as 
separate and independent applications, indicated their relative high biological activity 
against adenocarcinoma of glandulla mammae as tested on cancer-induced mouse. Aiming 
to broaden the list to closely relative species to studied ones comprehensive descriptions 
and phylogenetic analysis were performed on each of the genus. In the molecular analysis of 
ITS regions were applied for comparison of phylogenetic relationship among closely related 
species. Molecular markers separated both Antrodia juniperina and Pyrofomes demidoffii 
from their close relatives after ML analysis, thus representing a clear and stable species. 
The distribution of limited number of potentially biologically active close relatives based on 
the molecular markers did not show any significant pattern of the distribution of biological 
activities in common among lineages. In future we expect to include more species and 
closely related genera in molecular screening for their anti-cancer activity.