Within the genus Mycena, species exhibiting brownish basidiomata present considerable challenges in identification due to similar coloration. This study underscores the significance of pileipellis types and cheilocystidia characteristics as critical in delimiting brownish Mycena species. To clarify the principal taxonomic characters and their utility in distinguishing between brownish Mycena species, a morphological taxonomy and phylogenetic analysis were performed. Five new species from China were introduced and characterized through a comprehensive morphological anatomy and phylogenetic substantiation: M. campanulatihemisphaerica sp. nov., M. digitifurcata sp. nov., M. kunyuensis sp. nov., M. limitis sp. nov., and M. oryzifluens sp. nov. Discussions of these taxa are supplemented with morphological illustrations. The phylogenetic relationships were inferred using Bayesian Inference and Maximum Likelihood methods based on sequences from the internal transcribed spacer and the large subunit regions of nuclear ribosomal RNA. With the addition of these five new species, the worldwide count of brownish Mycena increases to 94, and a key to the 29 known species of brownish Mycena from China is presented.

Mushrooms produce a large number of medicinal bioactive metabolites with antioxidant, anticancer, antiaging, and other biological activities. However, whether they produce flavonoids and, if so, how they synthesize them remains a matter of some debate. In the present study, we combined flavonoid-targeted metabolomics and transcriptome analysis to explore the flavonoid synthesis in the medicinal mushroom Sanghuangporus baumii. The S. baumii synthesized 81 flavonoids on a chemically defined medium. The multiple classes of flavonoids present were consistent with the biosynthetic routes in plants. However, paradoxically, most of the genes that encode enzymes involved in the flavonoid biosynthetic pathway are missing from S. baumii. Only four genes related to flavonoid synthesis were found in S. baumii, among which phenylalanine ammonia lyase gene (PAL) is a key gene regulating flavonoid synthesis, and overexpression of SbPAL increases the accumulation of flavonoids. These results suggest that the flavonoid synthesis pathway in S. baumii is different from that in known plants, and the missing genes may be replaced by genes from the same superfamilies but are only distantly related. Thus, this study provides a novel method to produce flavonoids by metabolic engineering using mushrooms.

Sanghuangporus baumii (Pilát) L.W. Zhou & Y.C. Dai, a popular medicinal fungus, has been used to treat several diseases by its triterpenoids bioactive ingredient for many years. However, the triterpenoids content of S. baumii is low and their biosynthesis mechanisms are not clearly understood. In order to reveal the regulation mechanism of triterpenoids biosynthesis in S. baumii, the cDNA encoding isopentenyl diphosphate isomerase (IDI) involved in triterpenoids biosynthesis was cloned and named as SbIDI (GenBank number MK955885). The open reading frame of the SbIDI gene cDNA comprised 792 bp and encoded a polypeptide of 263 amino acids with a predicted protein molecular weight of 29.80 kDa. The transcript level of the SbIDI gene and triterpenoids content of S. baumii were detected at different developmental stages. The results showed that the transcript level of the SbIDI gene and triterpenoids content had almost the same trend of change, increased first and then decreased dynamically. The highest transcript level of the SbIDI gene occurred earlier than the highest triterpenoids content, indicating that the SbIDI gene may play an important role in triterpenoids biosynthesis in S. baumii. Moreover, the SbIDI gene cDNA was successfully expressed in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3), and the protein bands were consistent with the prediction.The results will lay a foundation for further study of the function of the SbIDI gene.

The present study reports the isolation and analysis of a beta-glucosidase gene (accession number MN816859) from the fungus Auricularia heimuer. The Aa-bgl gene comprises 2583 bp and encodes a putative polypeptide of 860 amino acids. BlastP analysis revealed conserved glycoside hydrolase family 3 domains. Recombinant plasmid pET-32a-bgl was constructed to overexpress the target protein in Escherichia coli BL21, and sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis analysis revealed target bands between 100 kDa and 135 kDa, consistent with the expected molecular weight. Additionally, the transcription levels of Aa-bgl at different developmental stages were investigated, and the results showed that the expression levels increased with the maturation of the fruiting bodies. In mature fruiting bodies, the levels were 6.69-fold higher than in controls (mycelium at 6 days). We therefore speculate that Aa-bgl may be correlated with development in A. heimuer. The findings provide a theoretical basis for studying the function of this beta-glucosidase in future work.