Metabolomics and transcriptomics unravel the mechanism of browning resistance in Agaricus bisporus

Agaricus bisporus is widely consumed on the world market. The easy browning of mushroom surface is one of the most intuitive factors affecting consumer purchase. A certain cognition on browning mechanism has been made after years of research. At present, people slow down the browning of mushrooms mainly by improving preservation methods. In addition, breeding is also a reliable way. In the production practice, we have identified some browning-resistant varieties, and we selected a browning-resistant variety to compare with an ordinary variety to reveal the resistance mechanism. Using transcriptomics and metabolomics, the differences in gene expression and metabolite levels were revealed, respectively. The results showed that differentially expressed genes (DEGs) like AbPPO4, AbPPO3 and AbPPO2 were differently expressed and these DEGs were involved in many pathways related to browning. The expression of AbPPO expression play an important role in the browning of A. bisporus and multiple PPO family members are involved in the regulation of browning. However, the resistance to browning cannot be judged only by the expression level of AbPPOs. For metabolomics, most of the different metabolites were organic acids. These organic acids had a higher level in anti-browning (BT) than easy-browning varieties (BS), although the profile was very heterogeneous. On the contrary, the content of trehalose in BS was significantly higher than that in BT. Higher organic acids decreased pH and further inhibited PPO activity. In addition, the BS had a higher content of trehalose, which might play roles in maintaining PPO activity. The difference of browning resistance between BS and BT is mainly due to the differential regulation mechanism of PPO.

Automated summary

This study reveals the mechanism of browning in Agaricus bisporus and explores the differences between browning-resistant and easy-browning varieties. The results show that browning-resistant varieties have higher levels of organic acids, while easy-browning varieties have higher levels of trehalose, which may be important factors influencing browning. Furthermore, differential gene expression and metabolite levels also play a role in browning.