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Enhancement of Ergothioneine Production by Discovering and Regulating its Metabolic Pathway in Cordyceps militaris

Summary

This research focused on improving the production of ergothioneine, a valuable antioxidant compound, in the medicinal mushroom Cordyceps militaris. Scientists modified the mushroom’s genes to create strains that could produce much higher amounts of beneficial compounds. This advancement has important real-world implications: • Makes it easier to produce natural antioxidants for food supplements and functional foods • Could lead to more affordable and accessible health-promoting mushroom products • Demonstrates a sustainable way to produce valuable compounds without relying on wild mushroom harvesting • Helps address quality control issues in mushroom farming • Opens new possibilities for developing enhanced medicinal mushroom foods

Background

Cordyceps militaris is a traditional medicinal fungus containing various functional ingredients that has recently been developed as an important mushroom food. Ergothioneine, one of the antioxidative compounds in C. militaris, provides benefits for aging-related diseases and has become a novel functional food nutritive fortifier. Currently, mushrooms are the main dietary source of ergothioneine. However, mushroom farming faces challenges including low ingredient yield and spontaneous degeneration of fruiting bodies that restrict large-scale ergothioneine production.

Objective

To excavate the ergothioneine synthetases in mushrooms and modify the genes in C. militaris to construct a new ergothioneine synthesis pathway to increase ingredient production.

Results

By introducing the modified pathway into C. militaris genome, researchers succeeded in increasing ingredient production in engineering strains. The highest amount of ergothioneine reached 2.5 g/kg dry weight and cordycepin reached 2 g/L. Expression of ergothioneine synthetase genes in shape-mutated degenerative C. militaris could recover the ability to produce high amounts of ingredients, suggesting metabolic regulation of ergothioneine might help address mushroom degeneration.

Conclusion

The study revealed a new pathway to fulfill market needs for functional mushroom food and ergothioneine as a food fortifier. The findings suggest C. militaris mycelium could be engineered as a novel medicinal mushroom food platform capable of producing higher amounts of valuable ingredients. While overexpression of synthetases failed to recover normal fruiting body morphology in degenerated strains, the improved ingredient concentrations demonstrate the potential for developing C. militaris as chassis cells for high-yield ergothioneine production.
  • Published in:Microbial Cell Factories,
  • Study Type:Laboratory Research,
  • Source: 10.1186/s12934-022-01891-5
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