Special Interest Group Meeting

Regulation of fruiting body photomorphogenesis in Coprinopsis cinerea

Takashi Kamada, Okayama University, Japan

Light is an important signal for fruiting body development in basidiomycetous mushrooms. In a model basidiomycete, Coprinopsis cinerea, the fruiting body primordium exhibits remarkable photomorphogenesis: under appropriate light conditions such as the 12-h light/12-h dark cycle, the primordium culminates in the mature fruiting body, while in continuous darkness, the primordium never proceeds to the fruiting body maturation phase but forms the etiolated “dark stipe” with rudimentary pileus and stipe tissues. Molecular genetic analysis of blind mutants defective in photomorphogenesis identified two photomorphogenetic genes, dst1 and dst2. dst1 encodes a homolog of wc-1, while dst2 encodes a protein with a putative flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD)-binding-4 domain. Furthermore, reverse genetic analysis revealed that the disruptants of a wc-2 homolog cause the same blind phenotype. These findings suggest that the presumptive mechanism for blue-light sensing in C. cinereus is fundamentally similar to that in Neurospora crassa, in which the WC-1/WC-2 complex plays a central role. A future challenge will be elucidating what role another photomorphogenetic protein, Dst2, plays in the blue light-sensing mechanism.

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