HUNTSVILLE, Ala – You may know it as your favorite pizza topping but researchers also know the button mushroom, or Agaricus bisporus, as a known decayer of leaves and other matter along the forest floor. Through an international collaboration including the HudsonAlpha Institute, the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute and numerous other research labs, the full genome and gene repertoire for the button mushroom has been completed, giving scientists a better understanding of its full capabilities. “The button mushroom is important both as a food source and as a bio-degrader of leaf and wood matter,” said HudsonAlpha faculty investigator Jane Grimwood, Ph.D. “Understanding the role that Agaricus plays in the ecosystem could have important implications for forest carbon management in sustainable forests.” Grimwood and Jeremy Schmutz, also a principal investigator at HudsonAlpha, were part of the international team.
The button mushroom is the world’s most cultivated variety. Information gleaned by scientists may be used in breeding mushrooms with features that make them heartier and even more commercially viable.
"Our contribution to this very successful collaboration, was to finish or improve the genome,” Grimwood said. “This improvement resulted in the high quality reference genome that was then used by researchers worldwide to gain insight into the functional adaptation of this button mushroom.
Read the published paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, in Scientist Live or through the U.S. Department of Energy's Joint Genome Institute.
Contact Name:
Holly Ralston
Contact Email:
hralston@hudsonalpha.org
Contact Phone:
256.508.8954
Organization Background:
The HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology in Huntsville, Ala, is the cornerstone of the Cummings Research Park Biotechnology Campus. The campus hosts a synergistic cluster of life sciences talent ‐ science, education and business professionals ‐ that promises collaborative innovation to turn knowledge and ideas into commercial products and services for improving human health and strengthening Alabama’s progressively diverse economy. The non‐profit institute is housed in a state‐of‐the‐art, 270,000-square‐ft. facility strategically located in the nation’s second largest research park. HudsonAlpha has a three‐fold mission of genomic research, economic development and educational outreach.
