Codon usage bias is an important characteristic of genetic information transfer in organisms. Analysis of codon usage bias of different species is important for understanding the rules on genetic information transfer. The previous method for analysis of codon usage bias is mainly based on genomic data. However, this method is greatly limited, because the genome sequences of higher organisms are still not available up to now. In this study, we found that we could obtain the same optimal codons of Ganoderma lucidum (Curtis: Fr.) P. Karst based on its whole genomic data or large-scale transcriptomic data from its liquid-cultured hyphae, primordium and fruiting body, separately. This result indicated the feasibility to understand the codon usage bias based on the large-scale transcriptomic data. By calculating the proportion of rare codons of Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae in 26 terpene synthases (TS) of G. lucidum, we found that the rare codons of S. cerevisiae have a higher proportion in TS genes, while the rare codons of E. coli have relatively lower, suggesting that the TS genes of G. lucidum are possibly more difficult to be expressed in S. cerevisiae than in E. coli. Chemical synthesis of TS genes according to the yeast optimal codons will be an effective way to solve the problem on the mismatch of gene codon bias between the foreign genes and the host strain.
Codon ; Escherichia coli ; Genome, Fungal ; Reishi ; genetics ; Saccharomyces cerevisiae ; Transcriptome

Lanosterol synthase( LS) is a key enzyme involving in the mevalonate pathway( MVA pathway) to produce lanosterol,which is a precursor of ganoderma triterpenoid. And the transcriptional regulation of LS gene directly affects the content of triterpenes in Ganoderma lucidum. In order to study the transcriptional regulation mechanism of LS gene,yeast one-hybrid technique was used to screen the transcription regulators which interact withthe promoter of LS. The bait vector was constructed by LS promoter,then the vector was transformed yeast cells to construct bait yeast strain. One-hybrid c DNA library was constructed via SMART technology. Then the c DNA and p GADT7-Rec vector were co-transformed into the bait yeast strain to screen the upstream regulatory factors of the promoter region of LS by homologous recombination. Total of 23 positive clones were screened. After sequencing,blast was performed against the whole-genome sequence of G. lucidum. As a result,8 regulatory factors were screened out including the transcription initiation TFIIB,the alpha/beta hydrolase super family,ALDH-SF superfamily,60 S ribosomal protein L21,ATP synthase β-subunit,microtubule associated protein Cript,prote asome subunit β-1,and transaldolase. Until now,the regulation effect of these 8 regulatory factors in G.lucidum has not been reported. This study provides candidate proteins for in-depth study on the expression regulation of LS.
Gene Library ; Intramolecular Transferases/metabolism* ; Reishi/genetics* ; Saccharomyces cerevisiae ; Transcription Factors/metabolism*

OBJECTIVETo investigate the genetic diversity of Ganoderma cultivars provided for the genuineness study, germ-plasm resource identification, genetic relationship study, breeding, introduction and cultivante of Ganoderma strains.

METHODWith the software of NTSYSpc 2. 1, 24 materials, of G. lucidum and G. sinense, were studied using AFLP to construct the dendrogram.

RESULTThere were 177 polymorphic bands with 14 primer combinations. And all materials could be identified with AFLP.

CONCLUSIONThere actually existed much genetic diversity at the molecular level among the germplasm resources of Ganoderma strains, and all the strains were clustered into G. lucidum group and G. sinense group at the similarity coefficient 0. 676.

Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism Analysis ; China ; Cluster Analysis ; DNA Primers ; DNA, Fungal ; analysis ; genetics ; Ganoderma ; classification ; genetics ; Genetic Variation ; Phylogeny ; Reishi ; genetics

Polysaccharide is among the main active components of Ganoderma lucidum for tumor prevention and treatment. Howe-ver, it remains unclear whether it has synergy with tumor immunotherapy. This study evaluated the effect of G. lucidum polysaccharides(GLP) on the infiltration of T lymphocytes into tumor and the underlying mechanism, in order to provide a reference for its application in tumor immunotherapy. GLP were prepared by water extraction and alcohol precipitation combined with Sevag method and then given(intraperitoneal injection) to the mice bearing B16-F10 cells at 25, 50 and 100 mg kg~(-1), respectively, to evaluate the effect on tumor growth. The infiltration of CD3~+ and CD8~+ T cells and the expression of intercellular cell adhesion molecule-1(ICAM-1) in tumor were detected by immunohistochemistry. EA.hy926 cells were treated with 50, 100 and 200 μg·mL~(-1) GLP, and the expression of ICAM-1 was determined by Western blot. The adhesion of EA.hy926 cells treated with GLP was measured with fluorescence-labeled Jurkat cells. To analyze the mechanism based on NF-κB pathway, this study determined the protein levels of nuclear factor kappa-B(NF-κB) p65, alpha inhibitor of NF-κB(IκBα), p-NF-κB p65 and p-IκBα by Western blot. The results showed that GLP can significantly inhibit the tumor growth in mice bearing B16-F10 cells, promote the infiltration of CD3~+ and CD8~+ T cells in tumor, and increase the expression of ICAM-1 in tumor. Meanwhile, GLP could also enhance the expression of ICAM-1 in EA.hy926 cells, thus strengthen the adhesion to Jurkat cells, induce phosphorylation and protein degradation of IκBα, and raise the expression and phosphorylation level of NF-κB p65. These results suggested that GLP could promote the expression of ICAM-1 through NF-κB pathway and further enhance the infiltration of T lymphocytes into tumor, thereby inhibiting tumor growth. This study lays a foundation for the further application of GLP in tumor immunotherapy.
Animals ; Endothelial Cells/metabolism* ; Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1/genetics* ; Mice ; NF-kappa B/metabolism* ; Neoplasms ; Polysaccharides ; Reishi ; Signal Transduction ; T-Lymphocytes ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha

Cytochrome P450 (CYP450) is a key element in the Ganoderma triterpenoid biosynthetic pathway. The catalytic reaction process for CYP450 requires NADPH / NADH for electron transfer. After searching the genome dataset of Ganoderma lucidum, the unique sequence encoding CYP450 and NADPH were discovered, separately. The open reading frames of GLCYP450 and GLNADPH were cloned separately using RT-PCR strategy from G lucidum. The appropriate restriction enzyme cutting sites were introduced at the 5' and 3' ends of gene sequence. The genes of GLCYP450 and GLNADPH were recombined into the yeast expression vector pESC-URA, leading to the formation of the yeast expression plasmid pESC-GLNADPH-GLCYP450. This study provides a foundation for researching Ganoderma triterpene biosynthesis using the approach of synthetic biology.
Amino Acid Sequence ; Cloning, Molecular ; Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme System ; genetics ; DNA, Complementary ; genetics ; metabolism ; Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal ; Genetic Vectors ; NADP ; genetics ; Open Reading Frames ; Plasmids ; Reishi ; enzymology ; genetics ; metabolism ; Synthetic Biology ; Triterpenes ; metabolism ; Yeasts ; genetics ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effect of Ganoderma lucidum polysaccharides (GLP) on the nucleotide contents and cell cycle distribution of the tumor cells in S180 ascitic tumor-bearing mice and explore the possible mechanism of the antitumor effect of GLP.

METHODSMice bearing S180 ascitic tumor were subjected to intragastric administration of GLP (100, 200, and 400 mg/kg), normal saline or subcutaneous injection of cyclophosphamide (CTX) at 25 mg/kg, respectively. The treatment was given once daily for 9 consecutive days, after which the ascitic tumor cells were harvested for determination of the RNA and DNA contents and their ratio as well as the cell cycle alterations. Laser scanning confocal microscopy and acridine orange staining was performed to evaluate the DNA and RNA fluorescence intensity, and flow cytometry with propidium iodide (PI) staining was utilized for cell cycle analysis of the tumor cells.

RESULTSCompared with normal saline group, the tumor cells in the 3 GLP groups all showed reduced RNA and DNA contents, and this reduction was statistically significant in 200 mg/kg GLP group (P=0.000). Significantly reduced RNA/DNA ratio was noted in all the 3 GLP groups (P=0.003, 0.000, 0.008 corresponding to 400, 200, and 100 mg/kg groups), suggesting that ganoderma polysaccharides more effectively reduced RNA content than DNA content. CTX also resulted in reduced RNA and DNA contents but not the RNA/DNA ratio. At the doses of 400, 200, and 100 mg/kg, GLP increased the percentage of G2/G2 phase cells (P=0.003, 0.000, and 0.000) whereas CTX showed the contrary effect (P=0.000). GLP produced no obvious effect on S-phage cells but CTX significantly reduced their percentage (P=0.000). GLP at the 3 doses all decreased the percentage of G2/M phase tumor cells (P=0.014, 0.049, 0.016) and CTX again induced contrary effect (P=0.000).

CONCLUSIONWith different effects from CTX on DNA and RNA contents and cell cycle, GLP inhibits DNA and RNA synthesis in the tumor cells by mobilizing the host immune function to interfere with the normal cell cycles, which might be one of the mechanisms for the antitumor effect of GLP.

Animals ; Antineoplastic Agents ; pharmacology ; Ascitic Fluid ; Cell Cycle ; drug effects ; Cell Line, Tumor ; DNA ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Immunohistochemistry ; Male ; Mice ; Polysaccharides ; pharmacology ; RNA ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Reishi ; chemistry ; Sarcoma 180 ; genetics ; pathology ; Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays

OBJECTIVETo determine if Ganoderma polysaccharides can antagonize prostaglandin E2 (PGE2)-induced suppression of murine splenocyte interferongamma (IFN-gamma) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) mRNA expression.

METHODSMixed lymphocyte culture reaction was used as the experimental model. The expressions levels of IFN-gamma and TNF-alpha mRNA were measured by semi-quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).

RESULTSAfter the cultures were treated with PGE2 for 4 h, IFN-gamma mRNA expression was reduced as compared with the control, which was especially obvious when PGE2 concentrations exceeded 10 micromol/L (P<0.01). Ganoderma polysaccharides above 100 mg/L showed partial antagonistic effect against the inhibition of IFN-gamma by PGE2 at the fixed concentration of 20 micromol/L. Further studies indicated that PGE2 (20 micromol/L) impaired the expression of TNF-alpha mRNA after an 8-hour incubation and Ganoderma polysaccharides above 100 mg/L could partially antagonize this effect.

CONCLUSIONGanoderma polysaccharides can partially antagonize PGE2-induced suppression of murine splenocyte IFN-gamma and TNF-alpha mRNA expression.

Animals ; Cells, Cultured ; Dinoprostone ; pharmacology ; Female ; Gene Expression ; drug effects ; Interferon-gamma ; genetics ; Lymphocytes ; cytology ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Polysaccharides ; pharmacology ; RNA, Messenger ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Reishi ; chemistry ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Spleen ; cytology ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha ; genetics

In this study, one immortalized human normal prostatic epithelial cell line (BPH) and four human prostate cancer cell lines (LNCaP, 22Rv1, PC-3, and DU-145) were treated with Ganoderma Lucidum triterpenoids (GLT) at different doses and for different time periods. Cell viability, apoptosis, and cell cycle were analyzed using flow cytometry and chemical assays. Gene expression and binding to DNA were assessed using real-time PCR and Western blotting. It was found that GLT dose-dependently inhibited prostate cancer cell growth through induction of apoptosis and cell cycle arrest at G1 phase. GLT-induced apoptosis was due to activation of Caspases-9 and -3 and turning on the downstream apoptotic events. GLT-induced cell cycle arrest (mainly G1 arrest) was due to up-regulation of p21 expression at the early time and down-regulation of cyclin-dependent kinase 4 (CDK4) and E2F1 expression at the late time. These findings demonstrate that GLT suppresses prostate cancer cell growth by inducing growth arrest and apoptosis, which might suggest that GLT or Ganoderma Lucidum could be used as a potential therapeutic drug for prostate cancer.
Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Caspase 3 ; genetics ; metabolism ; Caspase 9 ; genetics ; metabolism ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Survival ; drug effects ; Cyclin D1 ; genetics ; metabolism ; Cyclin-Dependent Kinase 4 ; genetics ; metabolism ; Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p21 ; genetics ; metabolism ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; E2F1 Transcription Factor ; genetics ; metabolism ; G1 Phase Cell Cycle Checkpoints ; drug effects ; genetics ; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic ; Humans ; Male ; Nucleosomes ; drug effects ; metabolism ; pathology ; Plant Extracts ; chemistry ; Prostate ; drug effects ; metabolism ; pathology ; Reishi ; chemistry ; Signal Transduction ; Triterpenes ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology