Abstract
Lentinula edodes is among the five globally cultivated edible mushrooms, which are wood decaying spore bearing Basidiomycetes possessing separate hyphae. Specific identification of this fungus from others in the division Basidiomycota using specific primers enables a fast and accurate detection through polymerase chain reaction (PCR). As a prelude to additional nutritional and sequence characterization research, we have developed a species-specific PCR assay for this fungus after screening four primer-pairs and two universal primer pairs. The primer-pair LE1F/R was specific in amplifications of ATCC-defined L. edodes strains and did not amplify DNA from six medicinally and nutritionally important fungal reference strains, Oyster (Pleurotus ostreatus), Maitake (Grifola frondosa), Enoki (Flammulina velutipes), Baby bella (Agaricus bisporus), Porcini (Boletus edulis), and Chanterelle (Cantharellus cibarius). However, amplifications using the universal primers were positive for all six strains. This assay will therefore serve to validate morphology-based-identifications of L. edodes strains. Key words: Lentinula edodes, LE1F/R, species-specific primers.
Highlights
Lentinula edodes is a saprophyte, and is often referred to as white-rot fungi, because of its capability in degrading cellulose, lignin, and other plant biomass macromolecules enzymatically (Sabotic et al, 2006)
The sizes of the fragments for the primers designed were in agreement with those obtained by polymerase chain reaction (PCR)
An optimized, inexpensive and rapid method for the molecular identification of medicinally important mushroom, L. edodes based on amplification of 18S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) is presented
Summary
Lentinula edodes is a saprophyte, and is often referred to as white-rot fungi, because of its capability in degrading cellulose, lignin, and other plant biomass macromolecules enzymatically (Sabotic et al, 2006) This mushroom ranks second in production (~2 million tons) as food and for medicinal purposes next to Agaricus bisporus (Chang and Buswell, 1999; Chiu et al, 1999). The most widely used common name, “Shiitake” was derived from two words, “shii”, the Japanese Chinquapin tree, Castanopsis cuspidata (Thunb.) Schottky and “take”, which means mushroom in Japanese.
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