Light and phytochrome PHY control the production of edible fungus Flammulina filiformis by regulating the morphogenesis of fruiting bodies and l-lysine accumulation.

Flammulina filiformis, a representative umbelliferous fungus, has a long stipe and high l-lysine content, thus is widely cultivated and consumed. Currently, there is a lack of theoretical guidance on how to better use light to cultivate edible fungi without photosynthesis such as F. filiformis in industrialized cultivation. Previous studies have found that blue light can affect the yield and l-lysine content of F. filiformis. The primary focus of this work was the phytochrome PHY in the light signaling pathway and its role in F. filiformis production. Unlike plants in which the expression of PHY was activated by only red light, it was found that different visible lights (including red, blue, green, and white light) can stimulate the up-regulation of FfPhy transcript levels. Throughout the developmental stages of F. filiformis, the transcript level of FfPhy was significantly up-regulated during the formation of fruiting body and in the stipe in the elongation stage. Further, FfPhy knockdown strain showed the markedly shorter stipe length than WT, resulting in a significantly reduced yield. RNA-Seq analysis showed that the most genes in MAPK signaling pathway and its downstream regulatory processes, mainly focusing on cell division and cell wall remodeling, were down-regulated after FfPhy knockdown. It suggested that FfPhy regulates the fruiting body elongation through acting on cell division and cell wall remodeling, thereby affecting the morphological development of the stipe rather than the pileus. Interestingly, FfPhy knockdown also inhibits the accumulation of l-lysine content by promoting l-lysine degradation instead of inhibiting l-lysine biosynthesis, indicating that its influence extends to metabolic processes related to l-lysine metabolism. These findings provide new insights into photobiological effect of FfPhy in macrofungus F. filiformis, and have potential guiding significance for cultivation and breeding to increase mushroom yield and l-lysine content.