Distribution of hydrophobin 1 gene transcript in developing fruiting bodies of Lentinula edodes

The development and nutritional quality of Lyophyllum decastes affected by monochromatic or mixed light provided by light-emitting diode

Edible fungi has certain photo-sensitivity during the mushroom emergence stage, but there has been few relevant studies on the responses of Lyophyllum decastes to different light quality. L. decastes were planted in growth chambers with different light qualities that were, respectively, white light (CK), monochromatic red light (R), monochromatic blue light (B), mixed red and blue light (RB), and the mixture of far-red and blue light (FrB). The photo-sensitivity of L. decastes was investigated by analyzing the growth characteristics, nutritional quality, extracellular enzymes as well as the light photoreceptor genes in mushroom exposed to different light treatments. The results showed that R led to mycelium degeneration, fungal skin inactivation and failure of primordial formation in L. decastes. The stipe length, stipe diameter, pileus diameter and the weight of fruiting bodies exposed to RB significantly increased by 8.0, 28.7, 18.3, and 58.2% respectively, compared to the control (p < 0.05). B significantly decreased the stipe length and the weight of fruiting body, with a decrease of 8.5 and 20.2% respectively, compared to the control (p < 0.05). Increased color indicators and deepened simulated color were detected in L. decastes pileus treated with B and FrB in relative to the control. Meanwhile, the expression levels of blue photoreceptor genes such as WC-1, WC-2 and Cry-DASH were significantly up-regulated in mushroom exposed to B and FrB (p < 0.05). Additionally, the contents of crude protein and crude polysaccharide in pileus treated with RB were, respectively, increased by 26.5 and 9.4% compared to the control, while those in stipes increased by 5.3 and 58.8%, respectively. Meanwhile, the activities of extracellular enzyme such as cellulase, hemicellulase, laccase, manganese peroxidase, lignin peroxidase and amylase were significant up-regulated in mushroom subjected to RB (p < 0.05), which may promote the degradation of the culture materials. On the whole, the largest volume and weight as well as the highest contents of nutrients were all detected in L. decastes treated with RB. The study provided a theoretical basis for the regulation of light environment in the industrial production of high quality L. decastes.

Comparative transcriptome analysis identified candidate genes involved in mycelium browning in Lentinula edodes

Background

Lentinula edodes is one of the most popular edible mushroom species in the world and contains useful medicinal components, such as lentinan. The light-induced formation of brown film on the vegetative mycelial tissues of L. edodes is an important process for ensuring the quantity and quality of this edible mushroom. To understand the molecular mechanisms underlying this critical developmental process in L. edodes, we characterized the morphological phenotypic changes in a strain, Chamaram, associated with abnormal brown film formation and compared its genome-wide transcriptional features.

Results

In the present study, we performed genome-wide transcriptome analyses of different vegetative mycelium growth phenotypes, namely, early white, normal brown, and defective dark yellow partial brown films phenotypes which were exposed to different light conditions. The analysis revealed the identification of clusters of genes specific to the light-induced brown film phenotypes. These genes were significantly associated with light sensing via photoreceptors such as FMN- and FAD-bindings, signal transduction by kinases and GPCRs, melanogenesis via activation of tyrosinases, and cell wall degradation by glucanases, chitinases, and laccases, which suggests these processes are involved in the formation of mycelial browning in L. edodes. Interestingly, hydrophobin genes such as SC1 and SC3 exhibited divergent expression levels in the normal and abnormal brown mycelial films, indicating the ability of these genes to act in fruiting body initiation and formation of dikaryotic mycelia. Furthermore, we identified the up-regulation of glycoside hydrolase domain-containing genes in the normal brown film but not in the abnormal film phenotype, suggesting that cell wall degradation in the normal brown film phenotype is crucial in the developmental processes related to the initiation and formation of fruiting bodies.

Conclusions

This study systematically analysed the expression patterns of light-induced browning-related genes in L. edodes. Our findings provide information for further investigations of browning formation mechanisms in L. edodes and a foundation for future L. edodes breeding.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s12864-019-5509-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Strand-Specific RNA-Seq Analyses of Fruiting Body Development in Coprinopsis cinerea

The basidiomycete fungus Coprinopsis cinerea is an important model system for multicellular development. Fruiting bodies of C. cinerea are typical mushrooms, which can be produced synchronously on defined media in the laboratory. To investigate the transcriptome in detail during fruiting body development, high-throughput sequencing (RNA-seq) was performed using cDNA libraries strand-specifically constructed from 13 points (stages/tissues) with two biological replicates. The reads were aligned to 14,245 predicted transcripts, and counted for forward and reverse transcripts. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between two adjacent points and between vegetative mycelium and each point were detected by Tag Count Comparison (TCC). To validate RNA-seq data, expression levels of selected genes were compared using RPKM values in RNA-seq data and qRT-PCR data, and DEGs detected in microarray data were examined in MA plots of RNA-seq data by TCC. We discuss events deduced from GO analysis of DEGs. In addition, we uncovered both transcription factor candidates and antisense transcripts that are likely to be involved in developmental regulation for fruiting.

Analysis ofrecQGene Transcript in Fruiting Bodies of Basidiomycetous MushroomLentinula edodes

Quantitative reverse transcription PCR analysis and total RNA staining demonstrated that Lentinula edodes recQ gene (Le.recQ) transcript is present in all the parts of the fruiting body, but in hymenophore at the highest density. Results of in situ RNA-RNA hybridization showed that the Le.recQ transcript level within the hymenophore is higher in the hymenium, subhymenium, and the outer region of the trama. Trama cells themselves contain a lower level of the transcript.

Endocytosis in the shiitake mushroom Lentinula edodes and involvement of GTPase LeRAB7

Endocytosis is the process by which substrates enter a cell without passing through the plasma membrane but rather invaginate the cell membrane and form intracellular vesicles. Rab7 regulates endocytic trafficking between early and late endosomes and between late endosomes and lysosomes. LeRab7 in Lentinula edodes is strongly homologous to Rab7 in Homo sapiens. Receptors for activated C kinase-1 (LeRACK1) and Rab5 GTPase (LeRAB5) were isolated as interacting partners of LeRab7, and the interactions were confirmed by in vivo and in vitro protein interaction assays. The three genes showed differential expression in the various developmental stages of the mushroom. In situ hybridization showed that the three transcripts were localized in regions of active growth, such as the outer region of trama cells, and the subhymenium of the hymenophore of mature fruiting bodies and the prehymenophore of young fruiting bodies. The existence of endocytosis in the mycelium and hymenophores was confirmed by the internalization of FM4-64. LeRAB7 was partially colocalized with the AM4-64 and was located in the late endocytic pathway. This is the first report of the presence of endocytosis in homobasidiomycetes. LeRAB7, LeRAB5, and LeRACK1 may contribute to the growth of L. edodes and cell differentiation in hymenophores.

Phage display cDNA cloning and expression analysis of hydrophobins from the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria (Cordyceps) bassiana

Hydrophobins are small amphipathic proteins that function in a broad range of growth and developmental processes in fungi. They are involved in the formation of aerial structures, the attachment of fungal cells to surfaces, and act in signalling in response to surface cues and pathogenesis. Beauveria bassiana is an important entomopathogenic fungus used as an arthropod biological control agent. To examine the feasibility of using phage display technology to clone cDNAs encoding hydrophobins, biopanning experiments were performed using a variety of affinity resins, including N,N'-diacetylchitobiose-, fucose-, lactose-, maltose- and melibiose-coupled agarose beads. After five rounds of iterative biopanning, cDNAs corresponding to two B. bassiana (class I) hydrophobins were selectively enriched using melibiose- or lactose-coupled agarose beads. Expression analysis revealed that the hyd1 gene was expressed in all samples tested, including aerial conidia, in vitro blastospores, submerged conidia, and cells sporulating on chitin and insect cuticle, with hyd1 expression peaking in growing mycelia. In contrast, the hyd2 gene was not appreciably expressed in any of the single-cell types (aerial conidia, blastospores and submerged conidia), but was constitutively expressed in growing mycelia and when cells were sporulating on chitin and insect cuticle. MS fingerprinting of an approximately 10 kDa protein found in boiling SDS-insoluble, trifluoroacetic acid-soluble extracts from aerial conidia identified the major component of the B. bassiana rodlet layer to be the hyd2 gene product. These results reveal the differential regulation of the isolated hydrophobins and indicate that phage display represents a novel approach to cDNA cloning of hydrophobins.

The fruiting-specific Le.flp1 gene, encoding a novel fungal fasciclin-like protein, of the basidiomycetous mushroom Lentinula edodes

To understand the molecular mechanisms of fruiting body formation of basidiomycetous mushrooms, we have isolated over a 100 of developmentally regulated genes that were specifically transcribed during fruiting body development in Lentinula edodes (Shiitake-mushroom) by a subtractive hybridization, cDNA-RDA (cDNA representational difference analysis). One of these genes, named Le.flp1, was isolated from the primordial cDNA library of L. edodes, and the expression product of Le.flp1 and putative fungal homologues contained a characteristic region, homologous to the Fas domain of fasciclin family proteins, which are capable of promoting cell adhesion through Fas domain-mediated homophilic interactions in various organisms. RT-PCR analyses suggested that Le.flp1 was specifically expressed in primordia and mature fruiting bodies. In situ hybridization indicated that Le.flp1 transcripts were distributed distinctly in the following tissues: the inside of gills of fruiting bodies, especially at the boundary between the subhymenium and trama, where there is active proliferation of basidium cells for producing basidiospores; peripheral regions of the primordium, pileus and stipe; and both inner tissue and outer regions of the stipe. Our results suggest the hypothesis that Le.flp1 plays a role in cellular differentiation and development in ubiquitous tissues during fruiting body formation in L. edodes, possibly through cell adhesion.

Isolation of genes differentially expressed during the fruit body development ofPleurotus ostreatusby differential display of RAPD

To analyze genes involved in fruit body development of Pleurotus ostreatus, mRNAs from three different developmental stages: i.e., vegetative mycelium, primordium, and mature fruit body, were isolated and reverse-transcribed to cDNAs. One hundred and twenty random PCR amplifications were performed with the cDNAs, which generated 382, 394, 393 cDNA fragments from each developmental stage. From these fragments, four cDNA clones specifically expressed in primordium or mature fruit body were detected. Sequence analysis and database searches revealed significant similarity with triacylglycerol lipase, cytochrome P450 sterol 14 alpha-demethylase and developmentally regulated genes of other fungi. Northern blot analyses confirmed that all of the four cDNAs were unexpressed in mycelium, thus stage-specific genes for fruit body formation of P. ostreatus were successfully isolated.

Molecular cloning of developmentally specific genes by representational difference analysis during the fruiting body formation in the basidiomycete Lentinula edodes

To understand molecular mechanisms of the fruiting body development in basidiomycetes, we attempted to isolate developmentally regulated genes expressed specifically during the fruiting body formation of Lentinula edodes (Shiitake-mushroom). cDNA representational difference analysis (cDNA-RDA) between vegetatively growing mycelium and two developmental substages, primordium and mature fruiting body, resulted in an isolation of 105 individual genes (51 in primordium and 54 in mature fruiting body, respectively). A search of homology with the protein databases and two basidiomycetous genomes in Phanerochaete chrysosporium and Coprinopsis cinerea revealed that the obtained genes encoded various proteins similar to those involved in general metabolism, cell structure, signal transduction, and responses to stress; in addition, there were apparently several metabolic pathways and signal transduction cascades that could be involved in the fruiting body development. The expression products of several genes revealed no significant homologies to those in the databases, implying that those genes are unique in L. edodes and the encoding products may possess possible functions in the course of fruiting body development. RT-PCR analyses revealed that 20 candidates of the obtained genes were specifically or abundantly transcribed in the course of the fruiting body formation, suggesting that the obtained genes in this work play roles in fruiting body development in L. edodes.