Bacteriolysis by Agaricus bisporus

Abstract

Agaricus bisporus, the cultivated mushroom, was able to mineralize dead 14C-labelled Bacillus subtilis and utilize the cellular components as sole source of carbon and nitrogen for growth. Consistently higher levels of bacteriolytic activity were obtained when A. bisporus was grown on lower concentrations of bacteria, 1.5 mg ml-1 as opposed to 3mg ml-1 basal liquid medium. A. bisporus also mineralized 14C-labelled bacteria in the presence of readily available alternative carbon and nitrogen sources such as glucose and ammonium sulphate. 14C-labelled bacteria were degraded to 14C02 more efficiently than [14C]cellulose. A. bisporus was able efficiently to mineralize biomass produced in situ ( > 20% of total label released as 14C02) where label was incorporated into the microbial biomass by composting rather than added as killed bacteria. This is the first time that quantitative data have been produced to show that the microbial biomass in wheat straw/animal manure compost might be significant in the nutritional strategy of basidiomycetes.

Growing edible mushrooms: a conversation between bacteria and fungi

“…Agaricus bisporus has been postulated to feed on compost bacteria since bacterial biomass was noted to decrease about fourfold during the cropping trial when analysing the phospholipid fatty acid content (Vos et al ., ). As reported, A. bisporus appears to degrade B. subtilis and was able to grow employing dead B. subtilis as the sole carbon and nitrogen source (Fermor and Wood, ; Fermor et al ., ). Thus, the bacteriolytic enzyme system produced by button mushroom may act as both a nutrient‐releasing system to obtain carbon, nitrogen and minerals, and as part of an antimicrobial system to protect the mushroom mycelium (Fermor et al ., ).…”

Efficient isolation of genes differentially expressed on cellulose by suppression subtractive hybridization in Agaricus bisporus

“…A. bisporus is grown on mushroom compost which is composed mainly of lignocellulosic residues and microbial biomass (Wood & Smith 1987). It has been demonstrated that A. bisporus produces endoglucanases, cellobiohydrolases, b-glucosidases, cellobiose dehydrogenases, xylanases, mannanases, laccases, manganese peroxidases, which are involved in compost degradation (Wood 1989, Wood & Thurston 1991, Fermor et al 1991, Yagu¨e et al 1997. At present, four cellulose-growth specific genes have been isolated, cel1 (endoglucanase), cel2 (cellobiohydrolase), cel3 (cellobiohydrolase) and cel4 (mannanase) (Raguz et al 1992, Chow et al 1994, Yagu¨e et al 1997.…”

Dynamic succession of microbial compost communities and functions during Pleurotus ostreatus mushroom cropping on a short composting substrate

“…Bacterial biomass nearly three-fold reduction, other fungi were dead ( Vos et al, 2017 ; Carrasco et al, 2020 ). The reduction of these bacteria and fungi is due to their degradation by button mushroom ( Fermor and Wood, 1991 ; Fermor et al, 1991 ). Therefore, the biomass of button mushroom largely derives from the degradation of other bacteria and fungi in compost.…”