Insights into the Global Transcriptome Response of Lentinula edodes Mycelia during Aging

Abstract

The spawn of Lentinula edodes and other basidiomycete fungi tend to age with long-term culture. This causes heavy yield losses if aging spawn is used for propagation. In this study, we cultivated dikaryotic L. edodes mycelia in plates for 60 days to produce intrinsic aging phenotypes. We found that intracellular reactive oxygen species levels increased in contrast to mitochondrial depolarization and also observed greater DNA fragmentation with longer culture time. Transcriptome analysis of mycelia at different growth stages revealed pronounced expression differences between short- and long-term cultures. In particular, “phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan biosynthesis”, “mitophagy and autophagy”, “MAPK signaling pathway”, and “ABC transporter” were among the enriched terms in the mycelial aging process. Weighted correlation network analysis identified LeAtg8, LeHog1, LePbs2, and LemTOR as key genes during aging. Western blotting confirmed that LeATG8 and phosphorylated LeHOG1 protein levels were significantly upregulated in aging mycelia. Our combined analytical approach provides insights into the mechanisms that regulate mycelial aging, indicating that autophagy/mitophagy plays a major role in counteracting the effects of age on mycelial growth development.

Comparative transcriptome analysis on candidate genes associated with fruiting body growth and development in Lyophyllum decastes

“…The utilization of Illumina RNA sequencing technology for high-throughput transcriptome sequencing has enabled the accurate identification of mRNA transcript abundance information, thereby facilitating research in the life sciences and significantly enhancing the efficiency of functional gene discovery in basidiomycota mushrooms ( Zhang et al, 2015b ; Gao et al, 2023 ). Several important genes regulating fruiting body development were identified by using comparative transcriptomic analysis during the mycelia, primordia, and fruiting body stages of Pleurotus tuoliensis ( Fu et al, 2017 ).…”