This issue of Mycological Research News features : Fungi from coral reefs : a commentary. An obituary of Meinhard M. Moser (1924–2002), doyen of European agaricologists and a Centenary Fellow of the British Mycological Society, is also presented. Molecular papers in this part include the characterization of an a-L-arabinofuranosidase gene in Penicillium, the proteomomics of development in a Phy...

BACKGROUND The differentiation resp. death of human monocytic THP-1 cells induced by polysaccharide extracts of the medicinal mushrooms Phellinus linteus, Agaricus bisporus and Agaricus brasiliensis have been studied. This study aims to identify leads for the causal effects of these mushroom components on cell differentiation and death. METHODS THP-1 cells were treated with different polysacc...

The antioxidant action of ethanolic extract from Agaricus bisporus which is available in the supermarkets of Bucharest, Romania, was assessed by determining its reducing power and its radical scavenging activity. The determinations were made by analyzing the freeze-dried ethanolic extract. The radical scavenging activity was determined using 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), superoxide rad...

Agaricus bisporus is a secondary decomposer fungus and an excellent model for the adaptation, persistence and growth of fungi in humic-rich environments such as soils of temperate woodland and pastures. The A. bisporus serine proteinase SPR1 is induced by humic acids and is highly expressed during growth on compost. Three Spr1 gene silencing cassettes were constructed around sense, antisense an...

Pseudomonas tolaasii, the causative agent of Agaricus bisporus brown blotch disease, can be identified by the white line reaction, occurring upon confrontation of the tolaasin-producing mushroom pathogen with "Pseudomonas reactans," producing the lipopeptide white line-inducing principle (WLIP). The draft genome sequence of the WLIP-producing indicator Pseudomonas fluorescens strain LMG 5329 is...

Wild and cultivated Basidiomycetes species were cultured to determine the distribution of bacteria causing brown blotch disease of Agaricus bisporus. Colonies from each basidiocarp were screened for brown blotch organisms by the white line and host pathogenicity tests. Isolates causing brown blotch were identified as Pseudomonas tolaasi and an Arthrobacter species.

We describe a modified Agrobacterium-mediated method for the efficient transformation of Agaricus bisporus. Salient features of this procedure include cocultivation of Agrobacterium and fruiting body gill tissue and use of a vector with a homologous promoter. This method offers new prospects for the genetic manipulation of this commercially important mushroom species.

Janthinobacterium agaricidamnosum causes soft-rot disease of the cultured button mushroom Agaricus bisporus and is thus responsible for agricultural losses. Here, we present the genome sequence of J. agaricidamnosum DSM 9628. The 5.9-Mb genome harbors several secondary metabolite biosynthesis gene clusters, which renders this neglected bacterium a promising source for genome mining approaches.

BACKGROUND Mushroom polysaccharides have traditionally been used for the prevention and treatment of a multitude of disorders like infectious illnesses, cancers and various autoimmune diseases. Crude mushroom extracts have been tested without detailed chemical analyses of its polysaccharide content. For the present study we decided to chemically determine the carbohydrate composition of semi-pu...