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Transcriptome and Metabolome Integration Reveals the Impact of Fungal Elicitors on Triterpene Accumulation in Sanghuangporus sanghuang

Summary

Researchers studied how special fungal compounds called elicitors can boost the production of healing substances in a medicinal mushroom called Sanghuangporus sanghuang. By analyzing genes and metabolites, they found that adding elicitors increased beneficial compounds like betulinic acid and 2-hydroxyoleanolic acid by up to 114-fold. These findings suggest a practical way to produce more medicinal compounds from this mushroom for health applications.

Background

Sanghuangporus sanghuang is a medicinal mushroom valued in traditional Chinese medicine for its bioactive compounds including flavonoids and triterpenoids, which exhibit hypoglycemic, antioxidant, antitumor, and antibacterial properties. Fungal elicitors can selectively induce fungal genes to promote secondary metabolite accumulation. The low natural yield of target metabolites necessitates investigation of methods to enhance their synthesis.

Objective

To investigate the effect of fungal polysaccharides derived from Perenniporia tenuis mycelia on metabolite production in S. sanghuang through integrated metabolomic and transcriptomic analysis under elicitor treatment and control conditions.

Results

Three triterpenoids were identified: betulinol, betulinic acid, and 2-hydroxyoleanolic acid. Elicitor treatment increased betulinic acid by 2.62-fold and 2-hydroxyoleanolic acid by 114.67-fold. Transcriptomic analysis identified 97 differentially expressed transcripts, with significant enrichment in mevalonate pathway enzymes and defense-related genes. Total triterpene content increased by 37.11% at day 5 of fermentation.

Conclusion

Fungal elicitors induce significant accumulation of pentacyclic triterpenoid secondary metabolites in S. sanghuang through upregulation of mevalonate pathway enzymes and activation of signal transduction and defense mechanisms. This demonstrates the potential application of fungal elicitors in enhancing triterpene production for large-scale extraction of medicinal compounds.
  • Published in:Journal of Fungi (Basel),
  • Study Type:Experimental Study,
  • Source: 10.3390/jof9060604, PMID: 37367540
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