Synthesis of a Lectin in Both Mycelia and Fruit Bodies of the Ascomycete MushroomAleuria aurantia

Abstract

In several organisms that form fruit bodies, the synthesis of lectins is developmentally regulated. Aleuria aurantia is an ascomycete that forms a fruit body known as orange peel mushroom. To find whether the mycelia of this organism synthesize a lectin, mycelial isolates were obtained from a wild fruit body by spore germination and regeneration from a fragment of the fruit body. The isolates were identified as A. aurantia by analysis of their DNA. The mycelial isolates synthesized a lectin with the same properties as those of fruit-body lectin in terms of subunit molecular mass, immunochemical reactivity, binding specificity for L-fucose, and N-terminal amino acid sequence. Vegetatively growing mycelia synthesized as much lectin as the fruit body, so such synthesis was not developmentally regulated, unlike some other organisms that form fruit bodies.

Entomotoxic and nematotoxic lectins and protease inhibitors from fungal fruiting bodies

“…AAL, PVL, and LbTec2 have been isolated from fruiting bodies of the respective fungi. AAL was expressed in vegetative mycelium and in fruiting bodies (Ogawa et al 1998). Expression of LbTec2 in vegetative mycelium has been shown to be upregulated in the presence of mycorrhizal helper bacteria (Deveau et al 2015).…”

Aleuria aurantiaLectin Exhibits Antifungal Activity againstMucor racemosus

“…Half of the AAL produced is secreted from the mycelia. 17) Hence we assumed that AAL functions extracellularly, possibly as a self-defensive protein. Therefore, we searched for soil microorganisms that are able to interact with AAL, and found Mucor racemosus to be a candidate.…”