iTRAQ-Based Comparative Proteomics Analysis of the Fruiting Dikaryon and the Non-fruiting Monokaryon of Flammulina velutipes.

Flammulina velutipes is a potentially excellent fungus to study basic mechanisms of basidiomycete mycelium biology. To provide a better understanding of the mechanism of hyphae growth and fruit-body formation, the biological functions of the differentially abundant proteins between the fruiting dikaryon and the non-fruiting monokaryon of F. velutipes were investigated at the proteomic level using iTRAQ-coupled two-dimensional liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry technique. Among the 1198 proteins identified with high confidence, a total of 472 proteins were detected differentially abundant at least one of the mycelium development stages. In-depth data analysis revealed that differentially expressed proteins were influenced a variety of cellular processes, particularly metabolic processes. Functional pathway analysis indicated that 63 up-regulated proteins at only the fruiting dikaryon (Fv13) stage were mainly distributed in 51 specific Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genome pathways, such as amino acids biosynthesis and metabolism, signaling pathway, and central carbon metabolism. These up-regulated proteins could possibly serve as potential biomarkers to study the mycelium development pathways as well as provide new insights on the mycelium heterogenic compatibility and fruit-body formation mechanisms of basidiomycetes.