Mycobiology 38(4) : 282-285 (2010)
© The Korean Society of Mycology
DOI:10.4489/MYCO.2010.38.4.282
Heterothallic Type of Mating System for Cordyceps cardinalis
1
2
3
4
5
Gi-Ho Sung , Bhushan Shrestha , Sang-Kuk Han , Soo-Young Kim and Jae-Mo Sung *
1
Mushroom Research Division, National Institute of Horticultural and Herbal Science, Rural Development Administration, Suwon 441707, Korea
2
Green Energy Mission/Nepal, Anam Nagar, Kathmandu P.O. Box 10647, Nepal
3
Division of Forest Biodiversity, Korea National Arboretum, Pocheon 487-820, Korea
4
Donghae Agricultural Technology Center, Donghae 240-030, Korea
5
Cordyceps Institute of Mushtech, Chuncheon 200-936, Korea
(Received August 17, 2010. Accepted November 2, 2010)
Cordyceps cardinalis successfully produced its fruiting bodies from multi-ascospore isolates. However, subcultures of multiascospore isolates could not produce fruiting bodies after few generations. Fruiting body production also differed from sector
to sector of the same isolate. Single ascospore isolates were then co-inoculated in combinations of two to observe the fruiting
characteristics. Combinations of certain isolates produced perithecial stromata formation, whereas other combinations did
not produce any fruiting bodies. These results show that C. cardinalis is a heterothallic fungus, requiring two isolates of
opposite mating types for fruiting body production. It was also shown that single ascospore isolates are hermaphrodites.
KEYWORDS : Heterothallism, Homothallism, Mating system, Perithecial stromata, Subculture
Cordyceps species are regarded as medicinal mushrooms
in East Asian countries. Some of them, for example
Ophiocordyceps sinensis (syn. Cordyceps sinensis), have
played very important roles in the economic development
of local communities [1, 2]. Recently, the mycelium growth
and fruiting body formation of Cordyceps species have
been studied with great interest with the objective of
large-scale cultivation [3-11]. Mating system is an important genetic factor for fruiting body formation in fungi
[12-14]. Cordyceps and other clavicipitaceous fungi have
been studied in order to determine their mating systems in
various environments, such as in nature and culture, or
through gene sequencing [15-21]. Most of these Cordyceps
species show heterothallism [17-20]. However, homothallic type behavior is also observed in Cordyceps despite
apparent heterothallism, e.g., in C. militaris [17, 21]. Besides
fruiting body formation, mating type can also help resolve
biological species concepts in fungi [22]. In addition to
ascospore-derived isolates, conidial isolates of asexual
fungi have also led to the development of sexual states of
Cordyceps in culture by proper combination of opposite
mating types [23].
C. cardinalis is a recently reported fungus [24], and its
in vitro fruiting bodies have been successfully produced in
Korea [25]. However, the mating system of C. cardinalis
is still unknown. In this study, the mating system of C.
cardinalis was studied in culture in order for continuous
cultivation of its fruiting bodies. Both multi-ascospore and
single ascospore isolates were tested for fruiting body for-
mation. Different sectors from the same isolate were also
employed for fruiting body formation.
Materials and Methods
Fungal isolates. C. cardinalis specimen CRI C-10735,
preserved at the Cordyceps Research Institute (CRI) of
Mushtech, Korea was used for multi-ascospore and single ascospore isolations. The specimen was collected
from Mt. Dunryu in Jeollanam-do on August 13, 2003.
Ascospores were discharged from the fresh specimen on
2% water agar. Multi-ascospore isolates were derived by
transferring agar blocks containing numerous ascospores
to Sabouraud dextrose agar plus yeast extract (SDAY;
dextrose 20 g, yeast extract 5 g, peptone 5 g, and agar
15 g per 1,000 mL; pH 5.6) agar plates, followed by incubation at 25oC under white fluorescent light for 3 wk.
Similarly, 38 single ascospore isolates were also derived,
following the method of Shrestha et al. [17], and incubated as above. They were numbered from CRI C-107351 to CRI C-10735-38.
Fruiting body formation from multi-ascospore isolates.
Liquid inocula of the isolates were prepared by inoculating five mycelial discs (4 mm) in 100 mL of SDAY broth
(SDAY without agar). The inoculated SDAY broths were
o
incubated at 25 ± 1 C for 5 days in a rotary shaker at
120 rpm. Fruiting medium was prepared by mixing 50 g
of brown rice, 10 g of silkworm pupa, and 60 mL of distilled water in 1,000 mL of Polypropylene (PP) bottle, folo
lowed by sterilization at 121 C for 15 min. Between 15~
*Corresponding author <E-mail : cordyceps@hanmail.net>
282
Mating System in Cordyceps cardinalis
283
20 mL of the liquid inocula was then inoculated into each
o
PP bottle, followed by incubation at 25 ± 1 C for 60 days
under white fluorescent light and humidity of 60~70%.
After 60 days of incubation, the fruiting bodies were distinguished by observing perithecia on stromata, following
the method of Shrestha et al. [17]. Fruiting bodies that
developed perithecia were marked as (+) and those without perithecia as (−).
tion, different sectors of the same agar culture produce
various types of fruiting bodies [27]. Single ascospore isolates have been shown to possess distinct mating types
and cultural characteristics [17, 28]. Usually, original isolates show better fruiting bodies, but the subcultures produce similar or inferior fruiting or no fruiting at all [26].
In this study as well, subcultures demonstrated reduced
fruiting body production.
Fruiting body formation from subcultures and different sectors. Multi-ascospore isolates were subcultured
every 3 wk on SDAY agar plates up to the sixth generation. Subcultures were also inoculated in fruiting medium
for fruiting body formation. However, no fruiting bodies
could be produced from subcultures after the fourth generation. To observe the effect of sectors on fruiting body
formation, 21 different sectors from the same subculture
of the fourth generation were inoculated into fruiting
medium and observed for fruiting body formation. The
sectors were numbered from CRI C-10735-1 to CRI C10735-21. Six sectors, CRI C-10735-2, CRI C-10735-6,
CRI C-10735-9, CRI C-10735-13, CRI C-10735-16, and
CRI C-10735-20, which could not produce any fruiting
bodies, were co-inoculated among themselves into fruiting medium in order to observe the effect of crossing on
fruiting body formation.
Fruiting body formation from different sectors of subcultures. Subcultures abruptly ceased producing fruiting bodies after the fourth generation. This could have
been due to reduced vitality of the subcultures, or the
fruiting ability could have differed from sector to sector of
the same subculture. A second possibility was demonstrated when six out of 21 sectors from the same subculture of the fourth generation produced fruiting bodies.
This phenomenon was again observed when non-fruiting
sectors produced fruiting bodies after co-inoculation
(Table 1). The combinations of sectors CRI C-10735-2 ×
CRI C-10735-6, CRI C-10735-2 × CRI C-10735-16, and
CRI C-10735-9 × CRI C-10735-20 produced fruiting bodies (Table 1). This shows that the subcultures led to
increased homogeneity in the genotypes, depending upon
the sectors of the mother isolates that were used for subculturing. It was shown in this study that multi-ascospore
isolates of C. cardinalis could not be used to understand
mating behavior.
Fruiting body formation from single ascospore isolates.
All single ascospore isolates were separately inoculated
into fruiting media, as described above, and observed for
fruiting body formation. Four single ascospore isolates,
CRI C-10735-1, CRI C-10735-2, CRI C-10735-3, and
CRI C-10735-38, which could not produce perithecial
fruiting bodies, were co-inoculated among themselves in
order to observe the effect of crossing on fruiting body
formation. A combination of isolates CRI C-10735-1 and
CRI C-10735-38 produced the best perithecial fruiting
bodies; hence, they were selected as tester isolates. These
tester isolates were then co-inoculated with each of the
remaining single ascospore isolates, and mating behavior
was observed. The hermaphroditic nature of single ascospore
isolates was also tested using isolates CRI C-10735-34
and CRI C-10735-38 by reciprocal inoculation, following
the method of Shrestha et al. [17].
Fruiting body formation from single ascospore isolates.
Out of 38 single ascospore isolates, 16 produced fruiting
bodies while the rest did not produce any. The fruiting
bodies produced from single ascospore isolates were different from those produced from multi-ascospore isolates
in that the former did not produce any perithecia on stroTable 1. Fruiting body formation by different sectors of subculture
of Cordyceps cardinalis isolate CRI C-10735
Sector No.
2
6
9
13
16
20
02
06
09
13
16
20
−
+
−
−
−
−
−
−
−
−
+
−
−
−
−
−
−
+
−
−
−
Results and Discussion
Fruiting body formation from multi-ascospore isolates and
subcultures. The original isolates and subcultures up to the
third generation produced perithecial fruiting bodies.
Multi-ascospore isolates were, in fact, a mixture of genetically different ascospores. Moreover, they have been
shown to produce unstable fruiting bodies as well as
degenerating fruiting bodies in C. militaris [26]. In addi-
Table 2. Fruiting body formation by single ascospore isolates
of Cordyceps cardinalis CRI C-10735
Isolate No.
1
2
3
38
01
02
03
38
−
−
−
−
−
−
+
+
+
−
284
Sung et al.
Fig. 1. Fruiting body formation by combinations of single ascospore isolates of Cordyceps cardinalis CRI C-10735.
Fig. 2. Fruiting body formation by combinations of single ascospore isolates and tester isolates of Cordyceps cardinalis CRI C10735.
Fig. 3. Fruiting body formation by reciprocal inoculations and co-inoculations of single ascospore isolates of Cordyceps cardinalis
CRI C-10735-34 and CRI C-10735-38. A, E, Single inoculations; B, D, Reciprocal inoculations between two isolates; C,
Co-inoculation of two isolates.
mata. Combinations of single ascospore isolates, however, did produce perithecial stromata. Combinations of
CRI C-10735-38 × CRI C-10735-1, CRI C-10735-38 ×
CRI C-10735-2, and CRI C-10735-38 × CRI C-10735-3
produced perithecial fruiting bodies, whereas combinations of CRI C-10735-2 × CRI C-10735-1, CRI C-107353 × CRI C-10735-1, and CRIC-10735-3 × CRI C-10735-2
produced no perithecial fruiting bodies (Table 2, Fig. 1).
Thus, isolates CRI C-10735-1, CRI C-10735-2, and CRI
C-10735-3 were designated as type A and the other isolate CRI C-10735-38 as type B to indicate that they were
of opposite mating type.
Most of the remaining single ascospore isolates produced perithecial fruiting bodies when co-inoculated with
either CRI C-10735-1 or CRI C-10735-38 (Fig. 2). How-
ever, one of them produced fruiting bodies with both
tester isolates, whereas the other two did not produce any
fruiting bodies with either of the tester isolates. In summary, 23 isolates showed mating type A and 12 isolates
showed mating type B. Hermaphroditic nature was shown
by single ascospore isolates of opposite mating types CRI
C-10735-34 and CRI C-10735-38 when inoculated reciprocally (Fig. 3).
Many Cordyceps species have been shown to be heterothallic by analysis of mating type genes [20]. Cultural
studies should be conducted more critically to identify the
mating system for Cordyceps. C. bassiana shows a very
unstable mating system in culture [10, 11]. In nature,
Cordyceps species generally show variation in their morphological characteristics. These variations could be due
Mating System in Cordyceps cardinalis
to heterothallism in their mating systems. Since C. cardinalis has a wider distribution from North America to East
Asia [24], heterothallism might be the reason for its adaptation to a wider ecological range.
This study showed C. cardinalis as a heterothallic fungus, similar to C. militaris, although the mating type of a
few single ascospore isolates could not be determined. We
also explained why fruiting body production varies from
isolate to isolate of multi-ascospore origin. It might be
possible that multi-ascospore isolates occasionally consist
of ascospores of the same mating type, and hence do not
produce any fruiting bodies. Further, continuous subcultures proliferate only a particular sector of the mother culture, leading to homogeneity in mating type after several
subcultures.
Such studies can help accumulate more information
about the mating systems of Cordyceps in general. Sung
et al. [29] has shown that single ascospore isolates of C.
militaris degenerate after several subcultures, but not as
early as multi-ascospore isolates. Hence, it is necessary to
select superior isolates for enhanced fruiting body production, as suggested by Sung et al. [30].
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to acknowledge the Cordyceps Research
Institute for providing facilities to carry out this study.
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