Isolation of genes specifically expressed in the fruit body of the edible basidiomycete Lentinula edodes.

In order to isolate the genes expressed specifically and abundantly in the mature fruit body of Lentinula edodes, the cDNAs derived from the gill of the fruit body were compared with the cDNAs from the mycelia by differential screening. Consequently, six clones were identified as fruit-body-specific genes (fbg03, 08, 13, 14, 16, and 21). The deduced amino acid sequence of fbg14 (Le.cypfb) had significant homology with the cytochrome P450 protein. The transcriptional level of fbg16, which showed 29.9% identity with the riboflavin aldehyde-forming enzyme of Agaricus bisporus, was highest among all of the fbg clones. This result indicates that the promoter region of fbg16 may become a powerful candidate for the expression signal of the vector for the gene manipulation in the mature fruit body.