{"title":"Cultivation and mating of the truffle <i>Tuber japonicum</i> in plantations of ectomycorrhizal <i>Quercus serrata</i> seedlings.","authors":"Noritaka Nakamura, Akihiko Kinoshita, Shota Nakano, Hitomi Furusawa, Keisuke Obase, Muneyoshi Yamaguchi, Kyotaro Noguchi, Yuki Kitade, Takashi Yamanaka","doi":"10.1128/aem.02362-24","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p><i>Tuber japonicum</i>, a white-colored truffle that is endemic to Japan, is promising for culinary purposes due to its unique aroma. We were able to cultivate <i>T. japonicum</i> in plantations of inoculated <i>Quercus serrata</i> seedlings for the first time. Ascocarps were found after 43 months at one site and after 61 months at another. We developed simple sequence repeat markers for multilocus genotyping of glebal tissue and ascospores and confirmed that the harvested ascocarps were derived from inocula. All paternal individuals matched the multilocus genotypes of neighboring maternal individuals, indicating frequent hermaphroditism and the absence of externally introduced individuals. Our findings provide important clues to understanding the reproductive biology of <i>T. japonicum</i> during the early period after the truffle plantation establishment.</p><p><strong>Importance: </strong>Truffles are highly prized as a delicacy, but only a select few species have been successfully cultivated. In our study, we succeeded for the first time in cultivating <i>Tuber japonicum</i>. Two out of four plantations produced ascocarps shortly after planting, with one of them yielding a comparable weight to other cultivated truffle species. This promising productivity suggests that the fungus has potential when cultivated. Our analysis of the ascocarps' maternal and paternal genotypes, using simple sequence repeat markers, revealed hermaphroditic behavior in the fungus at our planting site. Our findings provide crucial insights into the truffle mating events.</p>","PeriodicalId":8002,"journal":{"name":"Applied and Environmental Microbiology","volume":" ","pages":"e0236224"},"PeriodicalIF":3.9000,"publicationDate":"2025-01-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Applied and Environmental Microbiology","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1128/aem.02362-24","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"BIOTECHNOLOGY & APPLIED MICROBIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Tuber japonicum, a white-colored truffle that is endemic to Japan, is promising for culinary purposes due to its unique aroma. We were able to cultivate T. japonicum in plantations of inoculated Quercus serrata seedlings for the first time. Ascocarps were found after 43 months at one site and after 61 months at another. We developed simple sequence repeat markers for multilocus genotyping of glebal tissue and ascospores and confirmed that the harvested ascocarps were derived from inocula. All paternal individuals matched the multilocus genotypes of neighboring maternal individuals, indicating frequent hermaphroditism and the absence of externally introduced individuals. Our findings provide important clues to understanding the reproductive biology of T. japonicum during the early period after the truffle plantation establishment.
Importance: Truffles are highly prized as a delicacy, but only a select few species have been successfully cultivated. In our study, we succeeded for the first time in cultivating Tuber japonicum. Two out of four plantations produced ascocarps shortly after planting, with one of them yielding a comparable weight to other cultivated truffle species. This promising productivity suggests that the fungus has potential when cultivated. Our analysis of the ascocarps' maternal and paternal genotypes, using simple sequence repeat markers, revealed hermaphroditic behavior in the fungus at our planting site. Our findings provide crucial insights into the truffle mating events.
期刊介绍:
Applied and Environmental Microbiology (AEM) publishes papers that make significant contributions to (a) applied microbiology, including biotechnology, protein engineering, bioremediation, and food microbiology, (b) microbial ecology, including environmental, organismic, and genomic microbiology, and (c) interdisciplinary microbiology, including invertebrate microbiology, plant microbiology, aquatic microbiology, and geomicrobiology.