Sexual Crossing, Chromosome-Level Genome Sequences, and Comparative Genomic Analyses for the Medicinal Mushroom Taiwanofungus Camphoratus (Syn. Antrodia Cinnamomea, Antrodia Camphorata).

Taiwanofungus camphoratus mushrooms are a complementary and alternative medicine for hangovers, cancer, hypertension, obesity, diabetes, and inflammation. Though Taiwanofungus camphoratus has attracted considerable biotechnological and pharmacological attention, neither classical genetic nor genomic approaches have been properly established for it. We isolated four sexually competent monokaryons from two T. camphoratus dikaryons used for the commercial cultivation of orange-red (HC1) and milky-white (SN1) mushrooms, respectively. We also sequenced, annotated, and comparatively analyzed high-quality and chromosome-level genome sequences of these four monokaryons. These genomic resources represent a valuable basis for understanding the biology, evolution, and secondary metabolite biosynthesis of this economically important mushrooms. We demonstrate that T. camphoratus has a tetrapolar mating system and that HC1 and SN1 represent two intraspecies isolates displaying karyotypic variation. Compared with several edible mushroom model organisms, T. camphoratus underwent a significant contraction in the gene family and individual gene numbers, most notably for plant, fungal, and bacterial cell-wall-degrading enzymes, explaining why T. camphoratus mushrooms are rare in natural environments, are difficult and time-consuming to artificially cultivate, and are susceptible to fungal and bacterial infections. Our results lay the foundation for an in-depth T. camphoratus study, including precise genetic manipulation, improvements to mushroom fruiting, and synthetic biology applications for producing natural medicinal products. IMPORTANCETaiwanofungus camphoratus (Tc) is a basidiomycete fungus that causes brown heart rot of the aromatic tree Cinnamomum kanehirae. The Tc fruiting bodies have been used to treat hangovers, abdominal pain, diarrhea, hypertension, and other diseases first by aboriginal Taiwanese and later by people in many countries. To establish classical genetic and genomic approaches for this economically important medicinal mushroom, we first isolated and characterized four sexually competent monokaryons from two dikaryons wildly used for commercial production of Tc mushrooms. We applied PacBio single molecule, real-time sequencing technology to determine the near-completed genome sequences of four monokaryons. These telomere-to-telomere and gapless haploid genome sequences reveal all genomic variants needed to be studied and discovered, including centromeres, telomeres, retrotransposons, mating type loci, biosynthetic, and metabolic gene clusters. Substantial interspecies diversities are also discovered between Tc and several other mushroom model organisms, including Agrocybe aegerita, Coprinopsis cinerea, and Schizophyllum commune, and Ganoderma lucidum.

Multi-Carotenoids at Physiological Levels Inhibit VEGF-Induced Tube Formation of Endothelial Cells and the Possible Mechanisms of Action Both In Vitro and Ex Vivo.

Carotenoids have been shown to exhibit antiangiogenic activities. Several studies have indicated that carotenoids used in combination were more effective on antioxidation and anticancer actions than carotenoids used singly. However, it is unclear whether multi-carotenoids have antiangiogenic effects. We investigated the effects of multi-carotenoids at physiological plasma levels of Taiwanese (abbreviated as MCT, with a total of 1.4 µM) and Americans (abbreviated as MCA, with a total of 1.8 µM), and of post-supplemental plasma levels (abbreviated as HMC with a total of 3.55 µM) on vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-induced tube formation in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and rat aortic rings. MCT, MCA, and HMC inhibited VEGF-induced migration, invasion, and tube formation of HUVECs as well as new vessels formation in rat aortic rings. MCT, MCA, and HMC inhibited activities o\f matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2, urokinase plasminogen activator, and phosphorylation of VEGF receptor 2 induced by VEGF. Moreover, MCT, MCA, and HMC significantly upregulated protein expression of tissue inhibitors of MMP-2 and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1. These results demonstrate the antiangiogenic effect of multi-carotenoids both in vitro and ex vivo with possible mechanistic actions involving attenuation of VEGF receptor 2 phosphorylation and extracellular matrix degradation.

Thermally stable green Ba(3)Y(PO(4))3:Ce(3+),Tb(3+) and red Ca(3)Y(AlO)(3)(BO(3))4:Eu(3+) phosphors for white-light fluorescent lamps.

A class of thermal stable of green-emitting phosphors Ba(3)Y(PO(4))(3):Ce(3+),Tb(3+) (BYP:Ce(3+),Tb(3+)) and red-emitting phosphors Ca(3)Y(AlO)(3)(BO(3))(4):Eu(3+) (CYAB:Eu(3+)) for white-light fluorescent lamps were synthesized by high temperature solid-state reaction. We observed a decay of only 3% at 150 °C for BYP:0.25Ce3+,0.25Tb3+ (3% for LaPO4:Ce(3+),Tb(3+)), and a decay of 4% for CYAB:0.5Eu(3+) (7% for Y(2)O(3):Eu(3+), 24% for Y(2)O(2)S:Eu(3+)). The emission intensity of composition-optimized Ba(3)(Y(0.5)Ce(0.25)Tb(0.25))(PO(4))(3) is 70% of that of commercial LaPO(4):Ce(3+),Tb(3+) phosphors, and the CIE chromaticity coordinates are found to be (0.323, 0.534). The emission intensity of Ca(3)(Y(0.5)Eu(0.5))(AlO)(3)(BO(3))(4) is 70% and 83% of those of Y(2)O(3):Eu(3+) and Y(2)O(2)S:Eu(3+) phosphors, respectively, and the CIE chromaticity coordinates are redder (0.652, 0.342) than those of Y(2)O(3):Eu(3+) (0.645, 0.347) and Y(2)O(2)S:Eu(3+) (0.647, 0.343). A white-light fluorescent lamp is fabricated using composition-optimized Ba(3)(Y(0.5)Ce(0.25)Tb(0.25))(PO(4))(3) and Ca(3)(Y(0.5)Eu(0.5))(AlO)(3)(BO(3))(4) phosphors and matching blue-emitting phosphors. The results indicate that the quality of the brightness and color reproduction is suitable for application in shortwave UV fluorescent lamps. The white-light fluorescent lamp displays CIE chromaticity coordinates of x = 0.33, y = 0.35, a warm white light with a correlated color temperature of 5646 K, and a color-rendering index of Ra = 70.

Intense violet-blue-emitting Ba(2)AlB(4)O(9)Cl:Eu(2+) phosphors for applications in fluorescent lamps and ultraviolet-light-emitting diodes.

We synthesized a violet-blue phosphor Ba(2)AlB(4)O(9)Cl:Eu(2+) with a solid-state reaction. The excitation and emission spectra of this phosphor showed that all were broadband due to 4f(7)-4f(6)d(1) transitions of Eu(2+). The phosphors with different Eu(2+) concentrations presented violet-blue luminescence for ultraviolet [(UV) 250-390nm] excitation. The optimum concentration of Eu(2+) in Ba(2)AlB(4)O(9)Cl:Eu(2+) is determined to be 6mol.%. The luminous efficiency was found to be 8.1lm/W for the violet-blue fluorescent lamp and 3.2lm/W for the violet-blue phosphor-converted light-emitting diode, respectively. Ba(2)AlB(4)O(9)Cl:Eu(2+) would be a promising phosphor for converting the UV radiation to violet-blue emission for a novel high light-conversion efficiency phototherapy illuminator.