Profiling of Intra- and Extracellular Enzymes Involved in Fructification of the Lingzhi or Reishi Medicinal Mushroom, Ganoderma lucidum (Agaricomycetes).

Fruiting bodies of Ganoderma lucidum have been widely used as a source of potent nutraceutical products. However, the key proteins involved in fructifying G. lucidum, to our knowledge, have not yet been reported. We evaluated the protein profile of fruiting and nonfruiting G. lucidum strains at various developmental stages: mycelia, spawn running, pinning, and fruiting body. Four strains of G. lucidum (GL-I to GL-IV) were grown in both liquid medium (mushroom minimal medium broth) and bags of wheat straw, after which the biomass and fruiting bodies were harvested. Enzyme studies revealed enhanced intracellular and extracellular enzymatic activities during the spawn run stage compared with that during mycelial growth in broth. The esterase and peroxidase activities increased significantly during the pinning of the fruiting cultures, thus indicating their positive role in fructification. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy of proteins at 3 stages of cultivation-spawn run, pin head formation, and fruiting-exhibited the presence of hydrophobic amino acids and an ordered protein structure in fruiting strains (GL-I and GL-II), indicating the presence of hydrophobin proteins and their role in mushroom fructification. However, basic and aromatic amino acids predominated in the nonfruiting strain GL-IV, and an unordered protein structure was present, which indicate the positive role of hydrophobic amino acids and hydrophobin proteins in mushroom fructification.

High-Performance Liquid Chromatography Studies to Estimate Ergosterol Content at Different Developmental Stages of the Lingzhi or Reishi Medicinal Mushroom, Ganoderma lucidum (Agaricomycetes).

Ganoderma lucidum has been widely used as a source of potent nutraceutical products. This study was planned to identify and characterize the role of ergosterol in the developmental process of G. lucidum. Four strains of G. lucidum (GL-I-IV) showed a gradual increase in biomass (from 25.52 to 31.72 g) after 3 weeks of growth in mushroom complete medium broth, with maximum biomass observed for strain GL-III. Upon cultivation of G. lucidum strains on wheat straw supplemented with 5% wheat bran, maximum biological efficiency was recorded for the GL-I strain (31.23%), followed by GL-II (26.73%); the number of fruiting bodies were 927 and 693, each weighing 33.7 and 38.6 g, respectively. The amount of ergosterol in the Ganoderma test strains varied among the strains and at different developmental stages, namely, the vegetative mycelium, spawn run, pinhead, and fruiting body phases. The maximum ergosterol content was produced by the GL-I strain during the vegetative mycelium (4601 p.g/g) and reproductive fruiting body (7009 p.g/g) stages. However, strain GL-IV followed by strain GL-II exhibited maximum ergosterol content in the spawn run stage. The ergosterol content was better for GL-II at the pinhead stage. This report indicates that ergosterol content varies among the test strains. Moreover, it increases with each stage of the cultivation process, that is, from spawn run to pinhead to and fruiting body formation.