Living fungal mycelium with abolished ability to form fruiting bodies is a self-healing substance, which is particularly valuable for further engineering and development as materials sensing environmental changes and secreting signals. Suppression of fruiting body formation is also a useful tool for maintaining the stability of a mycelium-based material with ease and lower cost. The objective of this study was to provide a biochemical solution to regulate the fruiting body formation, which may replace heat killing of mycelium in practice. The concentrations of glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3) inhibitors, such as lithium chloride or CHIR99021 trihydrochloride, were found to directly correlate with the development of fruiting bodies in the mushroom forming fungi such as Coprinopsis cinerea and Pleurotus djamor. Sensitive windows to these inhibitors throughout the fungal life cycle were also identified. We suggest the inclusion of GSK-3 inhibitors in the cultivation recipes for inhibiting fruiting body formation and regulating mycelium growth. This is the first report of using a GSK-3 inhibitor to suppress fruiting body formation in living fungal mycelium-based materials. It provides an innovative strategy for easy, reliable, and low cost maintenance of materials containing living fungal mycelium.

Frozen desserts are highly valued for their creamy texture and rich mouthfeel, primarily due to their high‐fat content. However, the increasing consumption of these products has raised concerns regarding excessive fat intake, which has been linked to health issues such as obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease (CVD). Therefore, there is growing interest in developing fat replacers. Fat replacers can mimic the physicochemical and sensory properties of natural fats in frozen desserts, including texture, mouthfeel, and flavor interaction, providing a comparable experience with a reduced calorie content. However, fat reduction in frozen desserts often leads to undesirable changes, including reduced smoothness and creaminess, increased chalkiness, and the emergence of dark colors and off‐flavors. To mitigate these challenges, various strategies have been explored, including optimizing the ratio of ingredients, incorporating masking flavors, modifying processing techniques, and blending with stabilizers. While existing reviews highlight the benefits of fat replacers, they often focus on limited frozen dessert types and provide insufficient insight into replacement mechanisms and improvement strategies. This review aims to bridge this gap by examining a wide range of frozen desserts, comprehensively analyzing protein‐based, carbohydrate‐based, lipid‐based, and complex fat replacers, and detailing their mechanisms of action, application challenges, and effects on the final product quality. Additionally, strategies for enhancing the sensory attributes of reduced‐fat frozen desserts and future directions are discussed, ultimately supporting the development of sustainable, healthier, and consumer‐acceptable fat alternatives in the food industry.

Coprinopsis cinerea is one of the model species used in fungal developmental studies. This mushroom-forming Basidiomycetes fungus has several developmental destinies in response to changing environments, with dynamic developmental regulations of the organism. Although the gene expression in C. cinerea development has already been profiled broadly, previous studies have only focused on a specific stage or process of fungal development. A comprehensive perspective across different developmental paths is lacking, and a global view on the dynamic transcriptional regulations in the life cycle and the developmental paths is far from complete. In addition, knowledge on co- and post-transcriptional modifications in this fungus remains rare. In this study, we investigated the transcriptional changes and modifications in C. cinerea during the processes of spore germination, vegetative growth, oidiation, sclerotia formation, and fruiting body formation by inducing different developmental paths of the organism and profiling the transcriptomes using the high-throughput sequencing method. Transition in the identity and abundance of expressed genes drive the physiological and morphological alterations of the organism, including metabolism and multicellularity construction. Moreover, stage- and tissue-specific alternative splicing and RNA editing took place and functioned in C. cinerea. These modifications were negatively correlated to the conservation features of genes and could provide extra plasticity to the transcriptome during fungal development. We suggest that C. cinerea applies different molecular strategies in its developmental regulation, including shifts in expressed gene sets, diversifications of genetic information, and reversible diversifications of RNA molecules. Such features would increase the fungal adaptability in the rapidly changing environment, especially in the transition of developmental programs and the maintenance and balance of genetic and transcriptomic divergence. The multi-layer regulatory network of gene expression serves as the molecular basis of the functioning of developmental regulation.

High-fat diet (HFD) consumption induces gut microbiota dysbiosis and neuropsychiatric disorders, including anxiety. Previous research found that Tremella polysaccharide (TP) exhibited neuroprotective effects in vitro and in vivo. This study aimed to investigate the beneficial effects of TP on HFD-induced anxiety-like behaviors and elucidate the underlying mechanisms from the point view of the microbiota-gut-brain axis. Two groups of HFD-induced obese mice were orally gavaged with low dose (TPL, 40 mg/kg) and high dose (TPH, 400 mg/kg) of TP. A 12-week administration of TPH could significantly improve anxiety-like behaviors in HFD mice. In the hippocampus, microglia activation, the expression of blood-brain barrier (BBB) markers, and the levels of two neurotransmitters (serotonin and norepinephrine) were countered by TPH in mice consuming HFD. Furthermore, TPH improved the intestinal permeability and immune response of the enterocytes in HFD-fed mice. The gut microbiota dysbiosis induced by HFD was also rebalanced by TP treatments, especially in Proteobacteria and its lower taxa. The correlational analysis also suggested that shifts of some microbial genera were closely associated with body weight and the parameters of behavioral tests. Interestingly, fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) results indicated that fecal microbiota from TPH-treated obese mice could prevent HFD-induced anxiety-like behaviors, suppressing microglia activation and intestinal permeability. In conclusion, the present study indicated that TP intake is a promising dietary intervention strategy to prevent HFD-induced anxiety via the microbiota-gut-brain axis.

The “developmental hourglass” describes the morphological convergence to a conserved form at mid-stages of animal embryogenesis. The molecular hourglass pattern during embryogenesis was also identified across kingdoms. Previously, we reported young fruiting body as the conserved “waist” in mushroom-forming “developmental hourglass”. However, its robustness is doubted because of the fungal diversity. Additionally, fungi lack embryogenesis, and develop directly from spore to hyphae with morphological similarities during the transition. Here, we updated the “developmental hourglass” model in the life cycle of fungi, namely, spore germination, vegetative growth, and sexual reproduction. Germinating spores, both sexual and asexual, showed the strongest transcriptomic conservation signals across the phyla Mucoromycota, Ascomycota and Basidiomycota. Cross kingdom comparisons revealed high expression levels of “information storage and processing” genes at the waist stages of embryonic and non-embryonic developments in animals, plants, and fungi. The “developmental hourglass” might reflect the mutual transcriptome switches on developmental transitions in eukaryotes that are additional to embryonic organogenesis. Highlights Updated fungal molecular “developmental hourglass” model in the life cycle of fungi Germinating spores are the evolutionarily conserved “waist” across fungal phyla High expression levels of “information storage and processing” genes at the waist stages in the embryonic and non-embryonic hourglasses across kingdoms “Developmental hourglass” may reflect the mutual transcriptome switches on developmental transitions in eukaryotes