Analysis of mating type gene deletion phenomenon in tissue isolates of the cultivable yellow morel Mes-21

WANG Rujiang; SUN Wenhua; FANG Ruotian; WANG Haiyan; ZHANG Wenchang; KONG Weili; HE Peixin; LIU Wei; WANG Shaobo

doi:10.16861/j.cnki.zggc.2025.0644

Abstract：To reveal the existence of mating type deletion in isolates of the cultivable yellow morel Mes-21 and thus promote the understanding of the instability of its artificial cultivation,the self-designed universal primers were used to detect the mating type genes of the Mes-21 single-spore isolates and tissue isolates through PCR amplification combined with sequencing verification of the amplified products.Moreover,the correlation between the culture traits of the tissue isolates and the deletion of the mating type genes was analyzed.The detection of single spore isolates suggested that 96.30%tested strains harbored one kind of mating type gene,which confirmed the heterothallic nature of Mes-21.More-over,in 56 tissue isolates separated in 2025,only one kind of mating type gene was detected in 34 strains,accounting for 60.71%of the total isolates.In 7 tissue isolates separated in 2024,4 out 5 sterile strains harbored one mating type gene,while 2 strains out of 3 fertile strains harbored both mating type genes.The initial correlation analysis between the culture characteristics of tissue isolates and the mating type gene deletion indicated an obvious irrelevance between mating type gene deletion and mycelial growth rate.However,the probability of mating type gene deletion may be higher in strains with slower sclerotial formation and faster pigment production.Overall,this research indicated significant phenomenon of mating type gene deletion in tissue isolates of Mes-21,which may constitute one of the main reasons for its artificial culti-vation instability.