Research on selecting high and stable yield and fruiting body quality strains of Cordyceps militaris mushroom carrying a single mating-type gene

Abstract

The medicinal mushroom Cordyceps militaris is commonly used in traditional medicine and utilised as food in Asian countries. This mushroom is being cultivated on a large scale in many countries, including China, Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, etc. However, the cultivation of C. militaris fruiting bodies is facing degeneration through cultivation batches. The mating-type genes (MAT1-1-1 and MAT1-2-1) have been identified as playing important roles in the fruiting body formation and degeneration processes in C. militaris. This study identified the MAT1-1-1 and MAT1-2-1 genes in six strains of C. militaris currently being cultivated in Vietnam. Four strains (TN04, SH01, SH02 and SH04) possessed both the MAT1-1-1 and MAT1-2-1 genes, while the other two strains (TN03 and SH06) had only the MAT1-1-1 gene. The mushrooms were cultivated for production with great degeneration carry both the MAT1-1-1 and MAT1-2-1 mating-type genes. Among the six strains of C. militaris, two strains (TN03 and SH06) were selected for their superior fruiting body yield and cordycepin content. The biological efficiencies of the TN03 and SH06 strains were 14.36 and 16.7%, respectively. The cordycepin contents in the fruiting bodies of these two strains were 14 and 13.97 mg/g of dried fruiting bodies, respectively. Notably, the two strains TN03 and SH06 produced high and stable fruiting body yields and cordycepin contents over five generations of cultivation. These high-quality C. militaris strains are suitable for industrial-scale production.