Ganoderic Acid Accumulation and Biosynthetic Gene Expression during Fruiting Body Development in Ganoderma lucidum

Abstract

Objective: This work aimed to investigate the accumulation of total triterpenoids, individual ganoderic acid (GA) content and expression of four important biosynthetic genes during fruiting body development in Ganoderma lucidum. Methods: Individual GA content was determined by high performance liquid chromatography, and the transcription levels of the GA biosynthetic genes were analyzed by real-time quantitative PCR. Results: The maximum content for total triterpenoids, GA-T, GA-S and GA-Me was 1210, 16.5, 14.3, 12.5 g/ 100 mg dry weight, respectively, at the immature stage. The maximum transcript levels for GA biosynthetic genes encoding 3- hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase, farnesyl pyrophosphate synthase, squalene synthase and lanosterol synthase were up-regulated by 1.8-, 8.7-, 30.5- and 19.2-fold at the immature stage. Conclusion: The result showed that the content of total triterpenoids and individual GA at the immature stage was higher than that at the primordium and the mature stages. The higher GA content at the immature stage was partially related to increased transcription of these genes. This work will be help for better utilization of fruiting body of G. lucidum and further investigations on the GA biosynthesis regulation.