Genetic and Biochemical Characterization of Monokaryotic Progeny Strains of Button Mushroom (Agaricus bisporus)

To promote the selection of promising monokaryotic strains of button mushroom (Agaricus bisporus) during breeding, 61 progeny strains derived from basidiospores of two different lines of dikaryotic parental strains, ASI1038 and ASI1346, were analyzed by nucleotide sequencing of the intergenic spacer I (IGS I) region in their rDNA and by extracellular enzyme assays. Nineteen different sizes of IGS I, which ranged from 1,301 to 1,348 bp, were present among twenty ASI1346-derived progeny strains, while 15 different sizes of IGS I, which ranged from 700 to 1,347 bp, were present among twenty ASI1038-derived progeny strains. Phylogenetic analysis of the IGS sequences revealed that different clades were present in both the ASI10388- and ASI1346-derived progeny strains. Plating assays of seven kinds of extracellular enzymes (β-glucosidase, avicelase, CM-cellulase, amylase, pectinase, xylanase, and protease) also revealed apparent variation in the ability to produce extracellular enzymes among the 40 tested progeny strains from both parental A. bisporus strains. Overall, this study demonstrates that characterization of IGS I regions and extracellular enzymes is useful for the assessment of the substrate-degrading ability and heterogenicity of A. bisporus monokaryotic strains.