Editing Mold (section)

==Pharmaceuticals from molds==
[[File:Mold(плесень).jpg|thumb|left|Molds on a [[Petri dish]]]]
[[Alexander Fleming]]'s accidental discovery of the antibiotic [[penicillin]] involved a ''[[Penicillium]]'' mold called ''Penicillium rubrum'' (although the species was later established to be ''[[Penicillium rubens]]'').<ref name="The Nobel Prize website">{{cite web|title=The Nobel Prize website|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1945/|access-date=27 June 2012|archive-date=19 May 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120519161518/http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1945/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last1=Houbraken|first1=Jos|last2=Frisvad|first2=Jens C.|last3=Samson|first3=Robert A.|date=2011|title=Fleming's penicillin producing strain is not Penicillium chrysogenum but P. rubens|url= |journal=IMA Fungus|language=en|volume=2|issue=1|pages=87–95|doi=10.5598/imafungus.2011.02.01.12|pmc=3317369|pmid=22679592}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Houbraken|first1=J.|last2=Frisvad|first2=J.C.|last3=Seifert|first3=K.A.|last4=Overy|first4=D.P.|last5=Tuthill|first5=D.M.|last6=Valdez|first6=J.G.|last7=Samson|first7=R.A.|date=2012-12-31|title=New penicillin-producing Penicillium species and an overview of section Chrysogena|url= |journal=Persoonia - Molecular Phylogeny and Evolution of Fungi|language=en|volume=29|issue=1|pages=78–100|doi=10.3767/003158512X660571|pmc=3589797|pmid=23606767}}</ref> Fleming continued to investigate penicillin, showing that it could inhibit various types of bacteria found in infections and other ailments, but he was unable to produce the compound in large enough amounts necessary for production of a medicine.<ref name=TNPM>{{cite web|title=Award Ceremony Speech|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1945/press.html|work=Nobel Prizes and Laureates|publisher=Nobel Media|access-date=26 May 2014|archive-date=27 May 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140527212423/http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1945/press.html|url-status=live}}</ref> His work was expanded by a team at Oxford University; Clutterbuck, Lovell, and Raistrick, who began to work on the problem in 1931. This team was also unable to produce the pure compound in any large amount, and found that the purification process diminished its effectiveness and negated the anti-bacterial properties it had.<ref name=TNPM/>

[[Howard Florey]], [[Ernst Chain]], [[Norman Heatley]], [[Edward Abraham]], also all at Oxford, continued the work.<ref name=TNPM/> They enhanced and developed the concentration technique by using organic solutions rather than water, and created the "Oxford Unit" to measure penicillin concentration within a solution. They managed to purify the solution, increasing its concentration by 45–50 times, but found that a higher concentration was possible. Experiments were conducted and the results published in 1941, though the quantities of penicillin produced were not always high enough for the treatments required.<ref name=TNPM/> As this was during the Second World War, Florey sought US government involvement. With research teams in the UK and some in the US, industrial-scale production of crystallized penicillin was developed during 1941–1944 by the [[USDA]] and by Pfizer.<ref name="The Nobel Prize website"/><ref>{{cite web | url =https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/pressroom/newsreleases/2008/june/pfizers-work-on-penicillin-for-world-war-ii-becomes-a-national-historic-chemical-landmark.html | date =June 12, 2008 | title =Pfizer's work on penicillin for World War II becomes a National Historic Chemical Landmark | publisher =[[American Chemical Society]] | access-date =June 14, 2016 | archive-date =August 8, 2016 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20160808032624/https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/pressroom/newsreleases/2008/june/pfizers-work-on-penicillin-for-world-war-ii-becomes-a-national-historic-chemical-landmark.html | url-status =live }}</ref>

Several [[statin]] cholesterol-lowering drugs (such as [[lovastatin]], from ''Aspergillus terreus'') are derived from molds.<ref name="CoxSimpson2010">{{cite book |last1=Cox |first1=Russell J. |title=Comprehensive Natural Products II |last2=Simpson |first2=Thomas J. |chapter=Fungal Type I Polyketides |year=2010 |page=355 |doi=10.1016/B978-008045382-8.00017-4 |quote=Lovastatin (also known as mevinolin) is produced by Aspergillus terreus|isbn=9780080453828 }}</ref>

The immunosuppressant drug [[cyclosporine]], used to suppress the rejection of transplanted organs, is derived from the mold ''[[Tolypocladium inflatum]]''.