Severe bark decay disease was observed on oak logs at a shiitake cultivation farm in Geochang-gun, Gyeongnam province. The symptoms observed were fruiting bodies that had developed on the top and side surface of oak logs. As a result, the bark came off easily exposing the sapwood. Slime mold specimens collected from oak logs showed developing fruiting bodies comprising of stalks, hypothallus, c...

The chemical changes in barley-straw (BS), wheat-straw (WS) and vineyard-pruning (VP) substrates were determined during colonization of Lentinula edodes mycelia (during primordium development) in solid state fermentation. Primordia appeared 39-50 days after inoculation. VP appeared to promote early sporophore initiation. The concentration of hemicellulose in BS and VP decreased gradually from 2...

This study aimed to enhance the degrading ability of microcrystalline cellulose in the mycelia of the mushroom Lentinula edodes. The mycelia were incubated in an autopolyploidization medium containing colchicine for more than 1 week at low temperature. After incubation, many larger nuclei (autopolyploid nuclei) were observed in the mycelia.Mycelial mats were then incubated on agar medium contai...

Three common species of cultivated edible mushrooms were analyzed in terms of their antioxidant capacity and total phenolics content. Fruiting bodies of Agaricus bisporus, Pleurotus ostreatus and Lentinula edodes were subjected to blanching in a citric acid solution for five minutes and boiling in water for fifteen minutes. Both ethanolic and water extracts were obtained from the mushrooms and ...

Hemicellulose represents a rich source of biomass that can be converted into useful chemical feedstocks. One of the main components of hemicellulose is xylan, a polymer of xylose residues. Xylanase enzymes that hydrolyze xylan are therefore of great commercial interest. We have cloned a gene (xyn11A) that encodes a 283-amino acid xylanase enzyme from the fungus Lentinula edodes. The enzyme has ...

BACKGROUND The aim of the current study was to investigate whether the Basidiomycetes fungus Lentinula edodes can biosynthesize Se-methyl-seleno-l-cysteine, a seleno-amino acid with strong anticancer activity, and to optimize the culture conditions for its biosynthesis. We hypothesize that preparations obtained from Se-methyl-seleno-l-cysteine-enriched mycelia from this medicinal mushroom would...

Hydrophobins play important roles in morphogenesis and pathogenesis in fungi and fruit development in mushrooms. Two genes encoding hydrophobins (Le.hyd1 and Le.hyd2) were isolated during sequencing of random clones from a primordial cDNA library of Lentinula edodes. The nucleotide sequences of these two genes were determined. These two genes are 760 and 738 bp in length and the deduced amino a...

Lentinula edodes (shiitake mushroom) is a common edible mushroom with a number of potential therapeutic and nutritional applications. It contains various medically important molecules, such as polysaccharides, terpenoids, sterols, and lipids, were contained in this mushroom. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) is a powerful tool to analyze the mechanisms underlying the bi...