Metabolomics and transcriptomics unravel the mechanism of browning resistance in Agaricus bisporus.

Agaricus bisporus is widely consumed on the world market. The easy browning of mushroom surface is one of the most intuitive factors affecting consumer purchase. A certain cognition on browning mechanism has been made after years of research. At present, people slow down the browning of mushrooms mainly by improving preservation methods. In addition, breeding is also a reliable way. In the production practice, we have identified some browning-resistant varieties, and we selected a browning-resistant variety to compare with an ordinary variety to reveal the resistance mechanism. Using transcriptomics and metabolomics, the differences in gene expression and metabolite levels were revealed, respectively. The results showed that differentially expressed genes (DEGs) like AbPPO4, AbPPO3 and AbPPO2 were differently expressed and these DEGs were involved in many pathways related to browning. The expression of AbPPO expression play an important role in the browning of A. bisporus and multiple PPO family members are involved in the regulation of browning. However, the resistance to browning cannot be judged only by the expression level of AbPPOs. For metabolomics, most of the different metabolites were organic acids. These organic acids had a higher level in anti-browning (BT) than easy-browning varieties (BS), although the profile was very heterogeneous. On the contrary, the content of trehalose in BS was significantly higher than that in BT. Higher organic acids decreased pH and further inhibited PPO activity. In addition, the BS had a higher content of trehalose, which might play roles in maintaining PPO activity. The difference of browning resistance between BS and BT is mainly due to the differential regulation mechanism of PPO.

Emergence of lesions outside of the basal ganglia and irreversible damage to the basal ganglia with severe ß-ketothiolase deficiency: A case report.

BACKGROUND: ß-ketothiolase deficiency (ß-KTD) is an inherited disease, and insufficient attention has been paid to imageology due to its lower morbidity. Therefore, few lesions outside the basal ganglia have been found before, and the persistent pathological changes have rarely been reported. CASE SUMMARY: A 10-mo-old Chinese female patient with a free previous medical history but with poor physical and athletic development had received the haemophilus influenzae vaccine and then developed a low fever 2 d prior. She was initially diagnosed with severe brain injury, central respiratory failure, metabolic acidosis complicated with respiratory alkalosis, hyper-IgE, etc. With further examination, a definite diagnosis of ß-KTD was made. Symptomatic treatment was adopted. Ten days later, the dyspnea was improved evidently and the ventilator was removed, but there were still obvious abnormalities on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The lesions mainly invaded the corpus striatum but were not limited to the basal ganglia. Then, the patient's disease improved and discharged approximately 1 mo later, and the abnormal lesions on MRI had partially improved. However, for about 1 year, the residual irreversible lesions were observed on MRI, the mental and physical development of the patient was obviously regressive, and extra rehabilitation training was needed. CONCLUSION: The case highlights the critical importance of one view that the range of lesions in some patients may be more extensive than previously thought in some ß-KTD patients. In addition to biochemical tests, genetic tests and magnetic resonance imaging are not only conducive to quickly diagnosing ß-KTD but also to partially evaluating the short- and long-term outcomes. Moreover, more attention should be paid to the two mutations (c.478C>G; c.951C>T) that may be associated with severe ß-KTD.

Genome Survey and Transcriptome Analysis on Mycelia and Primordia of Agaricus blazei.

Agaricus blazei, a type of edible straw-rotting mushroom with somewhat sweet taste and fragrance of almonds, has attracted considerable scientific and practical attention. High-throughput Illumina PE150 and PacBio RSII platform were employed to generate a genomic sequence. De novo assembly generated 36 contigs with 38,686,133 bp in size, containing 10,119 putative predicted genes. Additionally, we also studied transcriptional regulation of the mycelia and the primordia for exploration of genes involved in fruiting body formation. Expression profiling analysis revealed that 2,164 genes were upregulated in mycelia and 1,557 in primordia. Functional enrichment showed that differentially expressed genes associated with response to stress, ribosome biogenesis, arginine biosynthesis, and steroid biosynthesis pathway were more active in fruiting body. The genome and transcriptome analysis of A. blazei provide valuable sequence resources and contribute to our understanding of genes related to the biosynthesis pathway of polysaccharide and benzaldehyde, as well as the fruiting body formation.

[Effect of acupuncture stimulation of Zusanli (ST 36) on cerebral regional homogeneity in volunteer subjects with different constitutions: a resting-state fMRI study].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the synchronism difference of brain region activities in response to acupuncture stimulation of Zusanli (ST 36) in healthy volunteer subjects with different acupuncture analgesia sensitivity, so as to study the central factors influencing acupuncture intervention outcomes. METHODS: Forty-five healthy volunteer subjects with different constitutions (different sensitivities in response to needling stimulation) were divided into insensitive group, normal group and sensitive group (n = 15). The pressure pain threshold (PPT) of the Zusanli (ST 36) region before and after acupuncture stimulation of ST36 was assessed using visual analog scale (VAS). Two weeks later after acupuncture stimulation of ST 36, resting-state fMRI images were acquired by using a nuclear magnetic resonance imaging system and analyzed by using DPARSFV 2.1 software package, software SPM 8 and REST 1.7. The cerebral regional homogeneity (ReHo) of the subjects was then calculated by Resting-State fMRI Data Analysis Toolkit (REST). RESULTS: Compared with pre-acupuncture, PPT levels of the normal and sensitive groups were significantly increased after acupuncture of ST 36 (P < 0.05), and that of the insensitive group had no significant change (P > 0.05). Following acupuncture stimulation of ST 36, the insensitive group only showed a significant decreased ReHo in the left fusiform gyrus, left inferior temporal gyrus, bilateral postcentral gyrus, and left anterior central gyrus. In the normal group, a significantly increased ReHo was found in left brainstem, the right cerebellum posterior lobe, right parahippocampa gyrus, right fusiform gyrus, left angular gyrus, temporal lobe and the left frontal lobe; and a significantly decreased ReHo in the occipital lobes and the right superior temporal gyrus after acupuncture stimulation of ST 36. In the sensitive group, a markedly increased ReHo was found in the left brainstem, bilateral cerebellum posterior lobes, left inferior temporal gyrus, basal ganglia, the left insular lobe, anterior cingutate, frontal lobe, inferior parietal lobule, and the right supplementary motor area, and an obviously decreased ReHo found in the bilateral occipital lobes, fusiform gyrus, posterior central gyrus, the right posterior cingutate, the left temporal lobe and the left paracentral lobule, etc. after acupuncture of ST 36. CONCLUSION: Constitution-associated needling sensation may be an important influential factor for acupuncture analgesia in normal subjects. The change of ReHo in different cerebral areas is probably responsible for the difference of acupuncture analgesia in different constitution people.

[A study of the clinical classification of 3638 cases of mushroom poisoning].

OBJECTIVE: To study the clinical classification and characteristics as well as prognosis of mushroom poisoning. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 191 papers published domestically for 3466 cases of mushroom poisoning from 1995 to 2004 and studied the Xinqiao Hospital data of 172 cases of mushroom poisoning treated from 1980 through 2004. We made a retrospective investigation and clinical classification of all the 3638 cases of mushroom poisoning. RESULTS: Among the 3638 patients, clinical manifestations as gastroenteritis were found in 571, all of them were cured. The most common symptoms were those of acute renal failure being found in 1450 cases; 1414 were cases (97.5%) and 36 died (2.5%). Symptoms of toxic hepatitis were found in 1010 cases, 841 were cases (83.3%) and 169 died (16.7%). Psychoneurological disorder was manifested in 214 cases; 197 were cases (92.1%) and 17 died (7.9%). Erythrolysis was found in 73 cases; 71 were cases (97.3%) and 2 died (2.7%). The therapeutic effect and prognosis of mushroom poisoning with different clinical manifestation varied very significantly (P < 0.001). Of the 320 cases clinically unclassified, multiple organ dysfunction syndrome was found in 222 cases; 98 were cases (44.1%) and 124 died (55.9%). Definite classification could not be made in 98 cases; 90 were cases (91.8%) and 8 died (8.2%). CONCLUSIONS: The clinical classification of mushroom poisoning was usually of four types as described in the textbooks or special articles, but it should be of five types according to the analysis of the data of the present study, i.e. gastroenteritis type, acute renal failure type, toxic hepatitis type, psychoneurological disorder type and erythrolysis type. It is not clear whether there is a mixed type or not. Further investigation is needed in this respect.