Hai-Ying Bao

Sanghuangporus mongolicus T. Bau is a wood-inhabiting medicinal fungus parasitic on Hemiptelea davidii, yet genomic resources for this species remain limited. Here, we generated and characterized a genome assembly from a verified monokaryotic isolate using PacBio long-read and Illumina short-read sequencing. The 34.79 Mb assembly comprised 13 contigs, with a contig N50 of 3.09 Mb and a GC content of 48.18%. BUSCO analysis recovered 98.3% complete orthologs, indicating high genome completeness. A total of 8471 protein-coding genes were predicted, including 491 genes annotated as carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes), 447 transporter-related genes, and 123 cytochrome P450 genes. In addition, 16 secondary metabolite biosynthetic gene clusters were identified. A descriptive comparison with four published Sanghuangporus genomes showed that S. mongolicus had 491 CAZyme-related annotations (14.11 per Mb; 5.80 per 100 predicted protein-coding genes). Corresponding values for the other four species were 313–346 annotations, with 9.78–10.38 per Mb and 2.99–4.18 per 100 predicted genes. However, structural gene-prediction workflows differed among the five genomes, and no formal gene-family expansion analysis was conducted. Accordingly, these differences are reported descriptively and should not be interpreted as evidence of evolutionary gene-family expansion. These genomic data provide a resource for functional gene characterization and further biological studies of S. mongolicus.

The ergosterol from mushrooms has gained significant ethnopharmacological importance in various cultures, including China, Japan, and Europe. This compound has been found to possess immune-boosting and anti-inflammatory properties, making it useful in the treatment of immune disorders. In this study, we focused on investigating the potential anticancer properties of ergosterol isolated from the edible mushroom Leucocalocybe mongolica in breast cancer cell lines. The ergosterol was purified and identified using advanced analytical techniques such as ESI-MS and NMR. We conducted cell proliferation assays on 4 T1 breast cancer cells to assess the cytotoxic effects of ergosterol. Furthermore, we analyzed the transcription levels of BAX, caspase-7, BCL-2, STAT-3, and PARP proteins using real-time PCR and Western blot analysis. Additionally, we employed non-targeted ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography and high-resolution mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) to study the potential mechanisms underlying the anticancer effects of ergosterol at the metabolomics level. The results demonstrated a significant reduction in cell viability and the induction of apoptosis upon treatment with ergosterol, especially at higher concentrations (P < 0.05). Moreover, ergosterol affected the expression of cancer-related genes, upregulating pro-apoptotic proteins such as BAX, caspase-7, and PARP, while downregulating the anti-apoptotic proteins BCL-2 and STAT-3 (P < 0.05). Western blot analysis confirmed these findings and provided further evidence of ergosterol's role in inducing apoptosis. Metabolomics analysis revealed substantial changes in pathways related to amino acid, antioxidant, and carbohydrate metabolism. In conclusion, our study demonstrates that ergosterol exhibits anticancer effects by inducing apoptosis and modulating metabolic pathways in breast cancer cells.

Inonotus hispidus is a valuable and rare edible and medicinal mushroom with extremely high nutritional and medicinal value. However, there is no holistic insight to elucidate the molecular basis of the differentiated usage and accurate annotation of physiological maturity to fluctuating yields and quality. This study aimed to figure out the fruiting bodies' metabolites change regulation and potential maturating indicators to distinguish different quality I. hispidus. We applied non-targeted ultra-high performance liquid chromatography and high-resolution mass spectrometry combined and with multivariate analysis and analyzed cultivated and wild mushroom I. hispidus in different growth periods (budding, mature and aging). With the fruiting bodies maturating, 1358 metabolites were annotated, 822 and 833 metabolites abundances changed greater than or equal to 1 time from the budding period to the aging period in abundance in cultivated and wild, the total polysaccharides, crude fat, total flavonoids, and total terpenes increased at first and then decreased. Total amino acids, crude protein, and total polyphenols decreased, while the total steroids increased linearly. The change of metabolites showed certain regularity. Metabolic pathways enrichment analysis showed that these metabolites are involved in glycolysis, biosynthesis of amino acids, organic acid metabolism, glycine-serine-and-threonine metabolism, tricarboxylic acid cycle, purine metabolism, and pyrimidine metabolism. In addition, ergosterol peroxide and (22E)-ergosta-4,6,8(14),22-tetraen-3-one can be used as indicator compounds, and their contents increase linearly with the fruiting bodies of I. hispidus’ physiological maturation. This comprehensive analysis will help to evaluate the edible values and facilitate exploitation in mushroom I. hispidus.

Leucocalocybe mongolica is a known medicinal mushroom in China. It possesses many biological activities. This study investigated the effect of L. mongolica petroleum ether and water extracts (200, 500, and 1,000mg/kg BW) on mammary gland differentiation during lactation. However, prolactin, growth hormone, progesterone, and estrogen levels were determined in serum by ELISA assay. Immunofluorescence, western blot, and real-time PCR were utilized to evaluate the expression levels of β-casein, α-Lactalbumin, prolactin receptor, progesterone receptor, and STAT-5a. The immunohistochemistry staining was used to detect the presence of steroid receptors. The results showed that petroleum ether and water extracts increased milk yield and milk content of calcium, total fat, total carbohydrate, and total protein. Prolactin and growth hormone levels were significantly upregulated in all treated groups compared with the control group. In contrast, progesterone and estrogen were downregulated. The high doses of petroleum ether and water extracts increased the expression levels of β-Cas, α-Lactalb, PRLR, PR, and STAT-5a. The observation of histological sections showed that the extracts induced higher mammary gland differentiation than the control group. This study is the first to use mushrooms as nutritional supplements to improve milk production and mammary gland differentiation during lactation.

Leucocalocybe mongolica (S. Imai) X.D. Yu & Y.J. Yao is a rare edible wild mushroom that is highly regarded in northeast Asia. Owing to its desirable flavour and health attributes, L. mongolica is ...

Phellinus ellipsoideus is a wood-rotting fungus used medicinally as sanghuang in the north-central area of Fujian Province, China. Ergosterol (ergosta-5,7,22-trien-3β-ol), one of the best-known bioactive steroids, has been identified as the active constituent of P. ellipsoideus. The objective of this study was to investigate the pharmacokinetics and tissue distribution of ergosterol after oral and intravenous administration in rats using high performance liquid chromatography with an external standard. The isolation was achieved with a C18 column using a methanol/water (98:2, v/v) solvent system with a flow rate of 0.8 mL/min at 25ºC and a maximum absorption wavelength of 283 nm. The pharmacokinetic profiles of the two routes of administration revealed that ergosterol was absorbed rapidly into the systemic circulation and was widely distributed throughout the body, followed by a rapid elimination phase. The highest concentration of ergosterol was found in lung tissue, followed by spleen and liver. These results will be useful for clinical applications or further study of ergosterol from fungi.

A new benzofuranone derivative, ethyl 2-(3,3-bis(7-acetyl-4,6-dihydroxy-3,5-dimethylbenzofuran-2-yl)acryloyl) (1), together with seven known compounds (2–8), was isolated from Usnea longissima. Their structures were elucidated by using spectroscopic methods, including 1D and 2D NMR experiments, UV, IR, EI-MS and HR-ESI-MS analysis.

The chemical constituents from the fruiting bodies of Lyophyllum decastes (Fr.) Singer were studied in this paper. Thirteen compounds were isolated and purified by column chromatographies on silica gel and Sephadex LH-20. Their structures were identified by MS and NMR data analysis as adenosine (1), 2R, 3S, 4S, 8E)-2-[(2'R)-2-hydroxyheneicosanoylamino]-8-octadecene-1, 3, 4-triol (2), (2R, 3S, 4S, 8E)-2-[(2'R)-2-hydroxypentacosanoylamino]-8-octadecene-1, 3, 4-triol (3), nicotinic acid (4), (4E, 8E) -2-N-2-hydroxytetracosanoyl-1-O-beta-D-glycopyranosyl-9-methyl-4, 8-sphingadienine (5), D-mannitol (6), ergosteryl-3-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside (7), tuberoside (8), (2R, 3S, 4S, 8E)-2-[(2'R)-2-hydroxybehenoylamino]-8-octadecene-1, 3, 4-triol (9),(2R, 3S, 4S, 8E)-2-[(2'R) -2-hydroxytricosanoylamino] -8-octadecene-1, 3, 4-triol (10), (22E, 24R)-ergosta-7, 22-dien-3beta, 5alpha, 6beta-triol (11), (22E, 24R)-ergosta-5, 7, 22-trien-3beta-ol (12), and 5alpha, 8alpha-epidiory-(22E, 24R)-ergosta-6, 22-dien-3beta-ol (13), respectively. All the above compounds are first obtained from the mushroom and compounds 2-10 are reported to be obtained from the Lyophyllum for the first time.

To study the chemical constituents of the whole lichen of Usnea longissima. The compounds were separated by silica gel, Sephadex LH-20 chromatography and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The structures of the compounds isolated were identified by physico-chemical properties and spectral analysis. Ten compounds were isolated and their structures were identified as (4aR,9bS)-2,6-diactyl-3,4a,7,9-tetrahydroxy-8,9b-dimethyl-1-oxo-1,4,4a, 9b-tetrahydrodibenzo [b,d]furan (1), (+)-usnic acid (2), orcinol (3), 18R-hydroxydihydroalloprotolichensterinic acid (4), 5, 8-epidioxy-5alpha, 8alpha-ergosta-6, 22E-dien-3beta-ol (5), ethyl everninate (6), arabitol(7), apigenin 7-O-beta-D-glucuronide (8), 3-hydroxy-5-methoxy-2-methylbenzoic acid(9), friedelin(10). Compound 1 was a new compound. Compound 8 was isolated from genu Usnea for the first time and compounds 3, 4 and 7 were isolated from U. longissima for the first time.