Fructification of Antrodia cinnamomea was strain dependent in malt extract media and involved specific gene expression.

Antrodia cinnamomea is an expensive medicinal fungus that grows only inside the rotten trunk of Cinnamomum kanehirae . In vitro culture of A. cinnamomea fruiting body is difficult and, therefore, of value for further investigation. To study whether the fructification of A. cinnamomea is strain dependent in artificial media, we grew four different A. cinnamomea strains on malt extract agar (MEA) media. The standard MEA and a series of dilution of the MEA nutrient components were made to culture A. cinnamomea. The formation of fruiting body was determined by visual and microscopic observation on A. cinnamomea's porous morphogenesis and HPLC analysis. All A. cinnamomea strains cultured grew best in 50% MEA, but carried different capabilities of fructification. In addition, we studied four antioxidation- or senescence-related genes, including a cytochrome P450, a glutathione-S-transferase, a peroxiredoxin, and a manganese superoxide dismutase. We found both cytochrome P450 and glutathione-S-transferase were expressed 3.66- and 2.75-fold in fruiting body compared with mycelium, respectively, and perxoiredoxin and manganese superoxide dismutase were found with similar expressions in both fruiting body and mycelium.