Contribution to Studies on Rare Medicinal Mushroom Sparassis crispa (Agaricomycetes) in Culture and Its Production of Phenol Compounds under Various Cultivation Conditions.

Abstract

Three Sparassis crispa strains from the Komarov Botanical Institute Basidiomycetes Culture Collection (LE-BIN) were studied on various agar and liquid media for growth and phenol compound production. On agar media, the strains produced crystals of various shapes and sizes that glowed in ultraviolet light and were visible to the naked eye. Using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, the crystals were identified as sparassol (methyl 2-hydroxy-4-methoxy-6-methylbenzoate). Other phenol compounds (i.e., methyl ester of sparassol and methyl ester of orsellinic acid) were also found in S. crispa mycelium. Phenol compounds were detected both in the mycelium and culture filtrate of all studied strains cultivated on various agar and liquid media, at different acidity and duration, but their composition and ratio varied. The initial pH of cultivated medium did not have a large influence on phenol compound production, unlike culture growth duration, which correlated directly with sparassol concentration in mycelium. Production of the phenol compounds presumably connected with constitutive processes of Sparassis metabolism, but the intensity of their production and accumulation in mycelium depends on the strain, conditions, and cultivation time. Strain LE-BIN 2902 is considered a promising sparassol producer.