Transcriptome analysis of the Ophiocordyceps sinensis fruiting body reveals putative genes involved in fruiting body development and cordycepin biosynthesis

Li Xiang, Ying Li, Yingjie Zhu, Hongmei Luo, Chunfang Li, Xiaolan Xu, Chao Sun, Jingyuan Song, Linchun Shi, Liu He, Wei Sun, Shilin Chen

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

90 Scopus citations

Abstract

Ophiocordyceps sinensis is a highly valuable and popular medicinal fungus used as a tonic and roborant for thousands of years in traditional Asian medicine. However, unsustainable harvesting practices have endangered this species and very little is known about its developmental programming, its biochemistry and genetics. To begin to address this, the transcriptome of the medicinal O. sinensis fruiting body was analyzed by high-throughput. In this O. sinensis 454-EST dataset, four mating type genes and 121 genes that may be involved in fruiting body development, especially in signal transduction and transcription regulation, were discovered. Moreover, a model was developed for the synthesis of the primary medicinal compound, cordycepin, and the putative biosynthetic enzymes identified. This transcriptome dataset provides a significant new resource for gene discovery in O. sinensis and dissection of its valuable biosynthetic and developmental pathways.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)154-159
Number of pages6
JournalGenomics
Volume103
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2014
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Cordycepin
  • Expressed sequence tag
  • Ophiocordyceps sinensis
  • Transcriptome

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Genetics

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