Identification of Two Thermotolerance-Related Genes in Agaricus bisporus

To characterize thermotolerance-related genes in Agaricus bisporus strain 02, we employed differential display PCR (DD-PCR) to analyze total RNA samples extracted from the mycelia grown at different temperatures. Two partial DNA fragments (023-11A and 023-11B) were cloned thus far, the expression of which was correlated with the culturing temperature. The sequences of the two DNA fragments were determined and the results showed that the nucleotide sequence of 023-11A was unknown, and 023-11B was highly similar in nucleotide sequence (identities 24 %, positives 45 %) to a gene coding for the karyopherin docking complex of the nuclear pore complex of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. It is possible to use the two fragments for further characterization of full-length coding sequences, which can potentially be used for generating new thermotolerant mushroom strains by transgenic technique.