NRPS (non-ribosomal pepetide synthetase) plays an important role in the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites, which includes economically important compounds such as antibiotics, antitumor agents, immune-suppressants, siderophores, toxins, etc. In most cases, however, their functions and biosynthesizing pathways have been still remained riddles because of their cryptic expression and recalcitrant genetics. In our previous genome analyses of Cordyceps bassiana C101, we predicted the sequences of secondary metabolite biosynthesizing gene clusters, which contain non-ribosomal pepetide synthetases whose functions are already known such as beauvericin, bassianolide, bassiatin, tenellin, beauverolides, and oosporein. The authors focused on nrps6 that has not been functionally studied. The single-gene deletion and overexpression mutants were established via Agrobacterium-mediated transformations. PCR, quantitative real-time PCR, and southern blot analyses were carried out to confirm the correct single-gene integrated homologous recombination. In further study, comparative metabolic profiling between wild-type and mutant strains will be followed by their detailed chemical structure analysis through NMR spectroscopy.

Sanghuangporus sanghuang (Hymenochaetaceae, Agaricomycetes) is a medicinal mushroom which has gained particular attention in Korea as a natural immune booster and a cancer suppressor. Recent molecular phylogenetic studies clarified the species concept of S. sanghuang extensively used in Asia including Korea, China, and Japan. In this study, we assembled its mitochondrial genome and identified the locations and functions of genes and coding regions using next-generation sequencing. Raw sequencing data was produced using PacBio approach, and assembled through hierarchical genome assembly process (HGAP). Determining the mitocondrial regions GeSeq and Artemis annotation tools were used. And the resulting gene map was visualized using OGDraw software. A total of 108 reads was aligned with a coverage of 11.87X. The entire mitochondrial genome was 111,734 bp in length, in which 24 proteins and 46 transfer RNAs were recognized. The overall base composition is 38.37% A, 38.42% T, 11.05% C and 12.14% G with an GC content of 23.2%. This mitochondrial genome data can be used to understand its phylogenetic relationship and taxonomic resolution and as a source of markers for population and species delimitation.

Mushroom Research Division, National Institute of Horticultural and Herbal Science (NIHHS) has operated mushroom resource management facilities which consist of eight separate rooms with automatic temperature and humidity controllers for the safe preservation of mycelial cultures and dried voucher specimens. Recently the liquid-nitrogen (LN) cryogenic system for the permanent/semi-permanent preservation of the strains commercially or scientifically important are successfully installed. Currently, 3,072 strains of 493 species in 139 genera of edible and medicinal mushrooms are preserved. During the last two years, an intranet site was designed and constructed for efficiently managing genetic resources. Based on accumulated data, morphological and physiological characteristics of mycelia and fruiting bodies, genetic sequences such as DNA barcodes and other molecular markers, preservation information, and the related pictures and documents of each strain are provided via graphical user interface.

Isaria farinosa (Hypocreales, Ascomycota) is a cosmopolitan entomopathogenic fungus affecting a wide range of arthropod hosts. It has mainly been studied as a insecticidal agent to control the agricultural pests. To investigate the useful secondary metabolite(SM) genes in Isaria farinosa C1012 strain, de novo assembly and genome mining were carried out. A whole genome sequencing with PacBio RSII system generated NGS reads greater than 4Gb, which were assembled into 16 contigs using FALCON program. The total size of genome was 33.36Mb. The N50 and N90 were 6,686,213 and 1,912,865bp, respectively. The assembled genome data was analyzed with antiSMASH3 program with a default setting to localize the gene region responsible for synthesizing SMs, such as non-ribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPS) and polyketide synthase (PKS). In this study, we predicted 16 NRPS, 13 PKS, and 9 PKS-NRPS hybrid gene clusters in I. farinosa genome.

Recent enactments of the Nagoya Protocol and UPOV convention precipitated international competition to secure biological resources. To address these challenges in the case of mushroom industry, collecting and preserving the genetic resources are urgently needed. Mushroom Research Division, National Institute of Horticltural and Herbal Science, Rural Development Administration, has operated mushroom resource management facilities which consist of eight separate rooms with automatic temperature and humidity controllers for the safe preservation of mycelial cultures or voucher herbarium specimens. During the past three years the liquid-nitrogen (LN) cryogenic system for the permanent/semi-permanent preservation of the strains commercially or scientifically important are successfully installed, and the computerized resource management system using QR code are adopted. Up to now, 1,586 strains of 261 species in 79 genus of edible and medicinal mushrooms were preserved.