title: The blue-light receptor CmWC-1 mediates fruit body development and secondary metabolism in Cordyceps militaris.
abstract: Light is an essential factor for pigment formation and fruit body development in Cordyceps militaris, a well-known edible and medicinal fungus. Cmwc-1, a homolog of the blue-light receptor gene white collar-1 (wc-1) in Neurospora crassa, was cloned from the C. militaris genome in our previous study. Here, Cmwc-1 gene inactivation results in thicker aerial hyphae, disordered fruit body development, a significant reduction in conidial formation, and carotenoid and cordycepin production. These characteristics were restored when the ΔCmwc-1 strains were hybridized with wild-type strains of the opposite mating type. A genome-wide expression analysis revealed that there were 1042 light-responsive genes in the wild-type strain and only 458 in the ΔCmwc-1 strain. Among five putative photoreceptors identified, Vivid, cryptochrome-1, and cyclobutane pyrimidine dimer photolyase are strongly induced by light in a Cmwc-1-dependent manner, while phytochrome and cryptochrome-2 were not induced. The transcription factors involved in the fungal light reaction were mainly of the Zn2Cys6 type. CmWC-1 regulates adenylosuccinate synthase, an important enzyme for adenosine de novo synthesis, which could explain the reduction in cordycepin production. Some G protein-coupled receptors that control fungal fruit body formation and the sexual cycle were regulated by CmWC-1, and the cAMP pathway involved in light signal transduction in N. crassa was not critical for the photoreaction in the fungus here. A transcriptional analysis indicated that steroid biosynthesis was more active in the ΔCmwc-1 strain, suggesting that CmWC-1 might switch the vegetative growth state to primordia differentiation by suppressing the expression of related genes.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Mycology, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 3 Park 1, Beichen West Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100101, China.
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Mycology, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 3 Park 1, Beichen West Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100101, China.|College of Chemistry and Life Science, Shenyang Normal University, Shenyang, 110034, China.
authors.forename: Mingmin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Shanxi Research Institute for Medicine and Life Science, Taiyuan, 030006, China.
authors.forename: Huaijun
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Shanxi Research Institute for Medicine and Life Science, Taiyuan, 030006, China.
authors.forename: Suping
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Mycology, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 3 Park 1, Beichen West Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100101, China. dongch@im.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Caihong
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2558-3404
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dong
mesh_terms: D002338:Carotenoids / Q000378:metabolism; D032661:Cordyceps / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism*; D003839:Deoxyadenosines / Q000378:metabolism; D048690:Fruiting Bodies, Fungal / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D005800:Genes, Fungal; D016681:Genome, Fungal; D008027:Light; D009492:Neurospora crassa / Q000235:genetics; D020283:Photoreceptors, Microbial / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D064210:Secondary Metabolism; D013256:Steroids / Q000096:biosynthesis; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D003839:Deoxyadenosines; D020283:Photoreceptors, Microbial; D013256:Steroids; D014157:Transcription Factors; D002338:Carotenoids; C058120:cordycepin
keywords: Carotenoid; Cmwc-1; Cordycepin; Cordyceps militaris; Fruit body