Transcriptomic and Metabolomic Profiles Provide Insights into the Red-Stipe Symptom of Morel Fruiting Bodies

Abstract

The cultivation of true morels (Morchella spp., Morchellaceae, Ascomycota) has rapidly expanded in recent years, especially in China. Red stipe is a symptom wherein the stipe of morel fruiting bodies becomes red–gray, resulting in the gradual death of the affected fruiting bodies. The impact of red-stipe symptom occurrence on the development and nutritional quality of morel fruiting bodies remains unclear. Herein, morel ascocarps with the red-stipe symptom (R) and normal (N), artificially cultivated in the Fujian Province of China, were selected for the transcriptome and metabolome analysis to study the physiological and biochemical responses of morel fruiting bodies to the red-stipe symptom. Transcriptome data revealed several differentially expressed genes between the R and N groups significantly enriched in the tyrosine, riboflavin, and glycerophospholipid metabolism pathways. Similarly, the differentially accumulated metabolites were mainly assigned to metabolic pathways, including tyrosine, the biosynthesis of plant secondary metabolites, and the biosynthesis of amino acids. Moreover, the transcriptome and metabolome data combination revealed that tyrosine metabolism was the most enriched pathway, which was followed by ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transport, alanine, aspartate, and glutamate metabolism. Overall, the integration of transcriptomic and metabolomic data of M. sextelata affected by red-stipe symptoms identified several important genes, metabolites, and pathways. These findings further improve our understanding of the mechanisms underlying the red-stipe symptom development of M. sextelata and provide new insights into how to optimize its cultivation methods.

Comparative Transcriptome Profiles of the Response of Mycelia of the Genus Morchella to Temperature Stress: An Examination of Potential Resistance Mechanisms

“…However, the exact effects and molecular mechanisms underlying Morchella mycelial responses to adverse temperature stress during the vegetative growth period have not been fully elucidated, which may limit the further industrial cultivation of Morchella species [ 24 ]. It has been reported that insufficient nutrition at low or high temperatures may cause severe disease with red-stipe symptoms, resulting in growth cessation and rot of the fruiting body [ 25 ]. Therefore, elucidating the mechanism underlying the effect of temperature on mycelia is an important prerequisite for achieving stable and high yields of Morchella and has important guiding significance and application value for optimizing cultivation techniques.…”

Production with Fermentation Culture and Antioxidant Activity of Polysaccharides from Morchella esculenta

“…The nutritional components in a microbial culture environment directly affect the efficiency and type of cell metabolic product synthesis [18,19]. In this study, the Box-Behnken response surface method was used to optimize the medium formulation of polysaccharides from MS-1 via liquid-submerged fermentation, and the polysaccharide MSL from MS-1 was isolated and extracted from the fermentation broth.…”

Integration of Metabolomes and Transcriptomes Provides Insights into Morphogenesis and Maturation in Morchella sextelata

“…Cultivation methods are mainly based on the domestication of easy-to-fruit varieties, the utilization of exogenous nutrient bags, and suitable environmental conditions [11,13]. Despite remarkable breakthroughs in artificial cultivation, approximately half of morel cultivations experience low fruiting rates and difficulties in obtaining stable profits [9,12], caused by serious problems such as strain aging or degradation [9,14], fungal and bacterial diseases [12,[15][16][17], environmental fluctuations, and refined field management [11,13]. These problems place greater demands on understanding the developmental mechanism and biology of morels.…”