Genomics and transcriptomics characterization of genes expressed during postharvest at 4°C by the edible basidiomycete Pleurotus ostreatus.

Pleurotus ostreatus is an industrially cultivated basidiomycete with nutritional and environmental applications. Its genome, which was sequenced by the Joint Genome Institute, has become a model for lignin degradation and for fungal genomics and transcriptomics studies. The complete P. ostreatus genome contains 35 Mbp organized in 11 chromosomes, and two different haploid genomes have been individually sequenced. In this work, genomics and transcriptomics approaches were employed in the study of P. ostreatus under different physiological conditions. Specifically, we analyzed a collection of expressed sequence tags (EST) obtained from cut fruit bodies that had been stored at 4°C for 7 days (postharvest conditions). Studies of the 253 expressed clones that had been automatically and manually annotated provided a detailed picture of the life characteristics of the self-sustained fruit bodies. The results suggested a complex metabolism in which autophagy, RNA metabolism, and protein and carbohydrate turnover are increased. Genes involved in environment sensing and morphogenesis were expressed under these conditions. The data improve our understanding of the decay process in postharvest mushrooms and highlight the use of high-throughput techniques to construct models of living organisms subjected to different environmental conditions.