Development of Mitocondrial Genome-based InDel Markers to Distinguish between Ganoderma lucidum and Perenniporia fraxinea

Background: Ganoderma lucidum and Perenniporia fraxinea are morphologically similar, making them difficult to distinguish when cut into pieces or powdered. Ganoderma lucidum is a more effective medicinal mushroom than P. fraxinea, but it is expensive, so there is a strong possibility that similar shaped mushrooms are mixed and sold together. Therefore, molecular biological markers that can differentiate G. lucidum from P. fraxinea are needed.BRMethods and Results: We selected two polymorphic insertion-deletion (InDel) sites and one polymorphic InDel site from the cox1 and rnl genes within the mitochondrial DNA, respectively, and designed primers using flanking sequences that surrounded these polymorphic sites. We performed a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to validate these markers. Three InDel markers were developed to differentiate between G. lucidum and P. fraxinea: GlPf_INDEL01, GlPf_INDEL02, and GlPf_INDEL04.BRConclusions: The three InDel markers developed in this study combined with a simple PCR analysis easily distinguished G. lucidum from P. fraxinea.