Lentinula edodes, one of the most popular, edible mushroom species with a high content of proteins and polysaccharides as well as unique aroma, is widely cultivated in many Asian countries, especially in China, Japan and Korea. As a white rot fungus with lignocellulose degradation ability, L. edodes has the potential for application in the utilization of agriculture straw resources. Here, we report its 41.8-Mb genome, encoding 14,889 predicted genes. Through a phylogenetic analysis with model species of fungi, the evolutionary divergence time of L. edodes and Gymnopus luxurians was estimated to be 39 MYA. The carbohydrate-active enzyme genes in L. edodes were compared with those of the other 25 fungal species, and 101 lignocellulolytic enzymes were identified in L. edodes, similar to other white rot fungi. Transcriptome analysis showed that the expression of genes encoding two cellulases and 16 transcription factor was up-regulated when mycelia were cultivated for 120 minutes in cellulose medium versus glucose medium. Our results will foster a better understanding of the molecular mechanism of lignocellulose degradation and provide the basis for partial replacement of wood sawdust with agricultural wastes in L. edodes cultivation.

Fracture network and fractured porous media as well as their transport properties have received great attentions in many fields from engineering application and basic theoretical researches. Fracture will dynamically extend in length and aperture to form complex fracture network under some external conditions such as percussion drilling, wave propagation, desiccation and hydrofracturing. The complexity of fracture network can be well quantitatively characterized by fractal dimension. In this work, the dynamic characterization of fracture network extension in porous media under drying process is measured by the improved box-counting technique, and fractal dimensions of fracture network are respectively related to drying time, average aperture, moisture content and fracture porosity. The fractal dimension increases exponentially with drying time and average aperture, and decreases with moisture content in the form of power law. Specially, the fractal dimension is approximatively increased with porosity in the form of linearity in a narrow porosity range. The transport capacity of fracture network, described by seepage coefficient, is also related to the fractal dimension with drying time in the form of exponential function. The presented fractal analysis of fracture network could also shed light on the hydrofracturing application in subsurface unconventional oil and gas reservoirs.

An editable asymmetric all-solid-state supercapacitors based on 2D-MOF/rGO papers were constructed.

Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is an autosomal dominant genetic disease caused mainly by LDL receptor (Ldlr) gene mutations. Unlike FH patients, heterozygous Ldlr knockout (KO) mice do not show a dominant FH trait. Hamsters, like humans, have the cholesteryl ester transfer protein, intestine-only ApoB editing and low hepatic cholesterol synthesis. Here, we generated Ldlr-ablated hamsters using CRISPR/Cas9 technology. Homozygous Ldlr KO hamsters on a chow diet developed hypercholesterolemia with LDL as the dominant lipoprotein and spontaneous atherosclerosis. On a high-cholesterol/high-fat (HCHF) diet, these animals exhibited severe hyperlipidemia and atherosclerotic lesions in the aorta and coronary arteries. Moreover, the heterozygous Ldlr KO hamsters on a short-term HCHF diet also had overt hypercholesterolemia, which could be effectively ameliorated with several lipid-lowering drugs. Importantly, heterozygotes on 3-month HCHF diets developed accelerated lesions in the aortas and coronary arteries.Our findings demonstrate that the Ldlr KO hamster is an animal model of choice for human FH and has great potential in translational research of hyperlipidemia and coronary heart disease.

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Lentinula edodes, one of the most important edible mushrooms in China, is affected heavily by the infection of green mold that overgrows mushroom mycelia. We collected the diseased samples from main L. edodes cultivation regions in China to characterize the pathogen and to study the effect of Trichoderma spp. on L. edodes species. We identified six Trichoderma species, that is, T. harzianum, T. atroviride, T. viride, T. pleuroticola, T. longibrachiatum, and T. oblongisporum based on the internal transcribed spacer or tef1‐α sequences and morphology characteristics. In confrontation cultures on Petri plates or in tubes, and in L. edodes cultures in a medium containing Trichoderma metabolites, L. edodes mycelia were not only distorted and swollen, but also inhibited by Trichoderma isolates. It is not possible that adjusting pH value or temperature is used for controlling L. edodes green disease, because the growth of most of Trichoderma isolates and L. edodes shared similar pH and temperature conditions.

DnaJ proteins, termed heat shock proteins based on their molecular weight, function as molecular chaperones that play critical roles in regulating organism growth and development as well as adaptation to the environment. However, little has been reported on their gene function in higher basidiomycetes. Here, the heat shock protein 40 (LeDnaJ) gene was cloned and characterized from Lentinula edodes. RNA interference was used to explore the function of LeDnaJ in response to heat stress and Trichoderma atroviride. Integration of the target gene into the L. edodes genome was confirmed by Southern blot analysis, and the silence efficiency of LeDnaJ was analyzed by qRT-PCR. The results revealed that LeDnaJ silence caused defects in mycelial growth and resistance to heat stress and T. atroviride, but increased the mycelial density compared with the wild type (WT) strain S606. Additionally, the IAA content showed a more than 10-fold increase in the WT after heat stress, but an about two-fold increase in the two LeDnaJ RNAi transfortants (LeDnaJ-i-6 and LeDnaJ-i-8). Previous study has shown that enhanced IAA (indole-3-acetic acid) content enhanced the thermotolerance of the heat-sensitive strain YS3357. In this study, it was documented that IAA amendments could partly restore the resistance to T. atroviride and thermotolerance of the two LeDnaJ RNAi transformants. Overall, LeDnaJ is nvolved in fungal growth, T. atroviride resistance, and thermotolerance by regulating the IAA biosynthesis in L. edodes.