UPLC-ESI-MS/MS-based widely targeted metabolomics reveals differences in metabolite composition among four Ganoderma species.

The Chinese name "Lingzhi" refers to Ganoderma genus, which are increasingly used in the food and medical industries. Ganoderma species are often used interchangeably since the differences in their composition are not known. To find compositional metabolite differences among Ganoderma species, we conducted a widely targeted metabolomics analysis of four commonly used edible and medicinal Ganoderma species based on ultra performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry. Through pairwise comparisons, we identified 575-764 significant differential metabolites among the species, most of which exhibited large fold differences. We screened and analyzed the composition and functionality of the advantageous metabolites in each species. Ganoderma lingzhi advantageous metabolites were mostly related to amino acids and derivatives, as well as terpenes, G. sinense to terpenes, and G. leucocontextum and G. tsugae to nucleotides and derivatives, alkaloids, and lipids. Network pharmacological analysis showed that SRC, GAPDH, TNF, and AKT1 were the key targets of high-degree advantage metabolites among the four Ganoderma species. Analysis of Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes demonstrated that the advantage metabolites in the four Ganoderma species may regulate and participate in signaling pathways associated with diverse cancers, Alzheimer's disease, and diabetes. Our findings contribute to more targeted development of Ganoderma products in the food and medical industries.

Determining why continuous cropping reduces the production of the morel Morchella sextelata.

Artificial cultivation of Morchella sextelata and other morels is expanding in China, but continuous cropping reduces Morchella for unknown reasons. Here, we investigated soil that had been used or not used for M. sextelata cultivation for 0, 1, and 2 years. We found that the continuous cropping of M. sextelata substantially reduced the pH and the nutrient content of the hyphosphere soil and increased sclerotia formation by M. sextelata. Changes in the structure of bacterial and fungal communities were associated with levels of available nitrogen (N) and phosphorus in the soil. With continuous cropping, the richness and diversity of fungal and bacterial communities increased, but the abundance of Bacillus and Lactobacillus decreased and the abundance of pathogenic fungi increased. FAPROTAX analysis indicated that N cycle functions were enriched more with than without continuous cultivation, and that enrichment of N cycle and sulfate respiration functions was higher in the second than in the first year of cultivation. FunGuild analysis indicated that the functions related to pathotrophs and wood saprotrophs were enriched by M. sextelata cultivation. Overall, the results suggest that continuous cropping may reduce M. sextelata production by acidifying the soil and increasing the abundance of pathogenic fungi. Additional research is needed to determine whether increases in the abundance of pathogenic fungi and changes in soil chemistry result in the declines in production that occur with continuous M. sextelata cultivation.

Analysis of clinical characteristics of gastrointestinal cancer in Heilongjiang province, China 1998 to 2007 / 中华胃肠外科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To provide basic information for epidemiological research of gastrointestinal (GI) malignant tumors.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Data of GI cancer diagnosed in 15 hospitals of Heilongjiang province between January 1998 and December 2007 were analyzed retrospectively. The data mainly involved the age of onset, initial symptoms, pathological types, clinical staging and types of surgical procedure.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Gastric cancer was the most common type (45.8%) among the 33,540 GI cancer cases, then were rectal cancer (27.3%) and colon cancer (26.8%). Right colon cancer cases were more common than the left ones (1.3:1.0), particularly in people over 80 (2.1:1.0). Only 1.3% of colorectal cancer could be found in age under 30 years old. In patients aged 50 to 70, advanced gastric cancer accounted for 70.6%, advanced colon cancer 73.4% and advanced rectal cancer 72.4%. Well-moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma in early gastric cancer was 49.7%, early colon cancer 77.3% and rectal cancer 83.2%. Patients undergone radical excision in early gastric cancer accounted for 69.1%, advanced gastric cancer 79.9%, left colon cancer 91.9%, right colon cancer 83.9% and in rectal cancer for 88.3%.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>People aged 50 to 70 tend to get GI cancer in Heilongjiang province. Gastric cancer is the most common GI cancer. Radical excision is the main choice of therapy.</p>