The postharvest storage of Volvariella volvacea is an important factor limiting the industry development. Low-temperature storage is the traditional storage method used for most edible fungi, but V. volvacea undergoes autolysis at low temperature. To understand the molecular mechanism underlying the low-temperature autolysis of V. volvacea after harvesting, fruiting bodies of V. volvacea strain V23 were stored at 4 °C. Based on our previous study, in which the changes of morphological and physiological indexes during storage for 0, 6, 12, 24, 30, 36, 48 and 60 h were measured; four time points, namely, 0, 12, 24 and 60 h, were selected for this differential proteomics study. The proteomic changes in the postharvest storage samples were studied by isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantification-coupled two-dimensional liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (2D LC-MS/MS). A total of 2,063 proteins were identified, and 192 differentially expressed proteins (DEPs), including 24 up-regulated proteins and 168 down-regulated proteins, were detected after 12 h of storage. After 24 h of storage, 234 DEPs, including 48 up-regulated and 186 down-regulated proteins, were observed, and after 60 h, 415 DEPs, including 65 up-regulated proteins and 350 down-regulated proteins, were observed. An in-depth data analysis showed that the DEPs participated in various cellular processes, particularly metabolic processes. In this study, we combined Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway analyses, and the results focused on oxidative phosphorylation and ubiquitin mediated proteolysis pathways. In addition, sdh2, uba1 and ubc1 was confirmed by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, and the results showed that the expression of these genes were consistent with their protein level. Based on the literature and our results, it is speculated that the identified DEPs, such as ATP1, SDH2, COR1, UBA1, COX4, UBC1 and SKP1 play a key role in the low-temperature autolysis of V. volvacea. Volvariella volvacea is a commercially important edible fungus cultivated in tropical and subtropical regions, particularly in Southeast Asian countries 1,2. In recent years, the market demand for V. volvacea has rapidly increased due to its unique flavor 3 and high nutritional value 4. V. volvacea also has pharmaceutical value because it contains antitumor polysaccharides and immunomodulatory lectins 5-7. V. volvacea is delicious and mainly sold fresh. In addition, this fungus exhibits rapid growth and development, has high respiratory intensity, and is easy-to-open umbrella at 28-35 °C, and these features are responsible for the loss of its edible value over a short period of time 8. In addition, V. volvacea is native to tropical and subtropical regions and is thus sensitive to low temperature. The fungus is usually autolysed at 0-5 °C 9,10 , and this autolysis accelerates its decay and causes softening and liquefaction. Therefore, the postharvest storage problem of V. volvacea has become a bottleneck that restr...