Edible Mushroom Hybrids

[waterboy 2.0]

Came across this by chance, and will probably interest the mad scientists....

Shirakami Awabitake Mushrooms
Inventory, lb : 0

Tweet

• 2 Recipe Ideas

Seasons/Availability
Shirakami Awabitake mushrooms are available year-round.

Current Facts
The Shirakami Awabitake mushroom, also known as the Daiotake is a hybrid of the King Trumpet mushroom (Pleurotus eryngii) and Chinese Abalone mushroom (Pleurotus nebrodensis) also known as Bai-Ling-Gu in Chinese. It is a member of Pleurotaceae family and is a relatively new mushroom on the Japanese market.

Description/Taste
The Shirakami Awabitake mushroom is a large mushroom, its cap can be up to nearly four inches in diameter. Grown within a bottle its size is large because farmers only grow one mushroom in each bottle, thinning out the rest of mushrooms. It is beige-white in color and its shape is similar to the Abalone mushroom. It has a meaty, dense and crisp texture reminiscent of the aquatic shellfish, abalone. It offers a buttery flavor and velvety texture when cooked without any earthy mushroom smell.

Nutritional Value
Shirakami Awabitake mushrooms are rich in the umami compound guanylate which is used often as dashi (soup stock) in Japanese cooking. In addition, they contain five times more dietary fiber than the King Trumpet mushroom.

Applications
Shirakami Awabitake mushrooms are versatile because of their size and meaty texture which works well as a substitute for other proteins. Pair with oil, butter, pork and foie gras. Use in vegetarian dishes, stir-fries, soups, stews, casserole, Japanese Nabe, tempura and Korean Bulgogi. For storing, put them in a paper bag and store in the refrigerator for one week.

Ethnic/Cultural Info
The Shirakami Awabitake mushroom grows in broad-leaf trees and sawdust from Japanese cedars that come from the Shirakami mountain district in Akita prefecture and Aomori prefecture. Its namesake is from the Shirakami mountain district.

Geography/History
Kinokkusu Corporation is the inoculum manufacture in Miyazaki prefecture that developed Shirakami Awabitake mushrooms. The mushroom company, Mush Family in Akita prefecture are the only producers growing developed Shirakami Awabitake mushrooms in Japan since 2008. Since they are cultivated in an indoor controlled environment they can be produced year-round.

http://www.specialtyproduce.com/produce/Shirakami_Awabitake_Mushrooms_10411.php

couldn't find much on a quick google, but found this gem that caused a few thoughts...lol

"Production and characterization of somatic hybrids raised through protoplast fusion between edible mushroom strains Volvariella volvacea and Pleurotus florida"

:

9c9605285a8c598a88.pdf

9c9605285a8c598a88.pdf

9c9605285a8c598a88.pdf

[Sallubrious]

Awesome find WB !

I wonder if other enzymes could be used with PEG to achieve a similar result for backyard mycologists.

[in_spirit]

I was only thinking yesterday about an article I read on pf red spored psilo and wondering if it could be achieved here with subs and cubes, but I am a thinker not a doer esp. In the field of fungi? My brain doesn't allow me to absorb too much knowledge??

[ace1928]

Bananas, chestnuts, kiwis, avocados, papaya, and tomatoes all contain significant levels of chitinases.

You could sterilise and use a concentrated extract of these fruits to help out a backyard mycologist.

[Darklight]

You could sterilise and use a concentrated extract of these fruits to help out a backyard mycologist.

You'd have to be really, really lucky for this to work straight out of the box. But believe me, luck does happen like this

If any of you decide to take it on, you'd need to be very thorough about your protocol and be prepared to keep good notes and stay on it for about 6 weeks per experiment- then work on the fruiting part. The exciting lab day in the middle of it is the easy part- it's the long term logging that tends to make a lot of valid and really interesting backyard projects fall down

Projects like this are really good fun to do with a nearby and equally motivated mate, is like an exercise buddy.

If you need any advice on setting up a basic protocol for this, post a proposal here and let the crew contribute to it. Would be great if you routinely published your results like Shonman did for his TC experiments

Have sometimes wondered if you could make a chitinase or B-glucanase at home, I had trouble getting one enzyme mentioned in a publication I was working on. Can't remember what I ended up using, but I went through several variants of commercial enzymes before I found one that worked.

It was a few years ago tho, and the option to make the enzyme myself wasn't open to me as it was someone else's lab. I'll go search for a home-chitinase/ B-glucanase recipe but if anyone has a proven recipe I'd love it

[ace1928]

I'd love to embark on a little experiment like this but my times devoted to other projects currently.

I'm positive that there would be species of fungi that produce chitinases. Wouldn't be the hardest thing to set up a bioreactor for it. Bioreactors really are not the scariest things out there even though other people will try and convince you otherwise.

Lots of valves, lots of sterilising chemicals and a close eye for detail can achieve a pretty decent reactor for minimal cost. Going to set myself up a bioreactor in the near future again hopefully.

[Darklight]

Wouldn't be the hardest thing to set up a bioreactor for it. Bioreactors really are not the scariest things out there even though other people will try and convince you otherwise.

Lots of valves, lots of sterilising chemicals and a close eye for detail can achieve a pretty decent reactor for minimal cost. Going to set myself up a bioreactor in the near future again hopefully.

I think it's pretty facile, especially these days. What's not facile is making sure it is functional for a decent stretch

Back in the late 90s I trialled a series of home made bioreactors which were really basic. They fell down in the seals dept repeatedly, and the O2 distribution was a little random in a few species ( which could have happened as well in a commercial bioreactor, O2 distribution is an ongoing issue and can be species or culture type dependent ).

Wouldn't try that again, because it is time consuming to ensure everything works each batch and you need to have the spare cultures you're prepared to lose

Not sure what's available now, but you know for a quick and dirty bioreactor ( ie just setting up proof of concept ) you can't go past those biological stir bars, pictured below. Comparatively cheap, you can autoclave them in situ with the medium in a vented flask and all you need then is your culture and a stirrer and you're in. Temp control at your peril, I'd go for a constant temperature room or a home wine storage unit from an auction house, whatever temps those run at

The stir bars are elevated from the floor of the flask so as not to grind any tissues in suspension

For a quick bioreactor upscale I'd recommend getting a 2nd hand one on ebay or similar. You need to monitor quite a few things on a bioreactor once you get tricky. You can also get disposables, again, you need to know what you're doing with your particular species and outcome, and what's been done before

There are always new options coming online with bioreactor tek, each has it's limitations, and most limitations are species or outcome specific ( ie you're going to need different parameters for immobilised cell cultures with continuous throughput where the end product is soluble in the media, when compared to regular batch processing of organ cultures where the end product is in the biological bits )

So yeah, keep in touch with each other on this with updates

I'm positive that there would be species of fungi that produce chitinases.

I'd reckon some plants would be as likely to produce them as well. No I haven't researched it.

Hey don't some Aspergillus produce plant cell wall degrading enzymes- yes they do-

Aspergillus Enzymes Involved in Degradation of Plant Cell Wall Polysaccharides

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC99039/

The really cool shit, the rush of planning and executing that gorgeous piece of elegant benchwork really needs to be tempered- nay expanded- to include the pre- and post work. The logging. The reporting. The backing up of data. The regular and continuous distribution of results which enable your work to be replicated. The days when nothing happens because nothing is supposed to happen beyond you checking it and taking 5 min worth of notes.

The days when you're tempted to start another six experiments because nothing is happening today, then your cat gets sick or you get a paper cut and it all goes to hell because you can't attend to everything all at once and everything turns to a smelly sludge and your g/f starts checking out the lease on a new flat because you can't bear to part with your stinky experimental results just-in-case-they-can-be-revived

And a lot of this is boring shit.

But you need to make it joyous, and recognise it's a part of the process. Otherwise you're just fucking around in a room with flashy lights and cool digital readouts fooling yourself you're being useful.

Not that there is anything wrong with fooling yourself, or with shiny toys. But on their own they are not as cool as a reliably reported result to an intelligent question, no matter how trivial that question seems. It's amazing how many seemingly trivial questions don't get answered because everyone thinks someone else has done it, or it isn't important enough, or they couldn't possible contribute.

We are all born scientists, method is easily taught- seriously, but attitude is essential

I think I just went off on a rant. Sorry. Normal transmission resumes

[ace1928]

Cellulases are super easy to come across if you are wanting to break down plant cells.
Humans even produce chitinases. A fair few of them in cartilage and surface of the skin and what not. Really important that we have them so that fungi can't get an initial foothold in our system.

You could always make a super low tech version that would still be reliable for your stir bar and stirrers but that would be getting off topic here haha.

Im out for now. Don't want to degenerate the thread toooo much.

But if there is anyone keen on having a go at the hybridising of the mushroom species I'd be more than glad to share what I've researched on the topic myself with others who are interested in giving it a crack. I never got to the point of implementing the research but have a solid foundation of knowledge which i can share with someone willing to give it a crack.

[waterboy 2.0]

algae for chitinases I reckon

[Darklight]

Cellulases are super easy to come across if you are wanting to break down plant cells.

Well, yes, but designing a protocol for your particular enzyme and plant cell/ end use can take quite a few experiments and a lot of attention to detail IME. Not sure if that has changed, I've not done protoplast work for some years

It is facile. Anyone can design and run the experiments. But experiments are like puppies. Anyone can keep one alive for a few days, but to raise them properly it takes attitude and long term planning. I like to emphasise these because there are a lot of really enthusiastic but inexperienced people out there who can run such experiments but because we don't emphasise the planning and project aspects of all work they get a bit disillusioned when they don't see short term results, or they don't get the results they want- and we lose them.

Enthusiastic amateurs are valuable contributors long term. Look at Fungimap.Many enthusiastic amateurs go on to become enthusiastic professionals, who are precisely the kind of professionals we need

Back on-topic- are you aware of any interesting developments in protoplast isolation or hybridisation over say the last ten years? I'm out of touch

Humans even produce chitinases. A fair few of them in cartilage and surface of the skin and what not. Really important that we have them so that fungi can't get an initial foothold in our system..

Oh nice, I'd forgotten that :D How would we isolate the little buggers best IYO?

Im out for now. Don't want to degenerate the thread toooo much.

Please don't leave the thread? At SAB we have a delightful history of long, relaxed and rambling conversations within a thread. I haven't seen much strict adherence to topic, thankfully. I find it more inclusive. If an OP objects then it gets discussed and edited if need be.

Google is a search engine. We're here for the lulz

But if there is anyone keen on having a go at the hybridising of the mushroom species I'd be more than glad to share what I've researched on the topic myself with others who are interested in giving it a crack. I never got to the point of implementing the research but have a solid foundation of knowledge which i can share with someone willing to give it a crack

Always open to collaborations if they capture my short attention span and sparkly imagination

Edited July 6, 2014 by Darklight

[waterboy 2.0]

Always open to collaborations if they capture my short attention span and sparkly imagination

lol...seconded....anything around this is welcome IMO

EDIT - I am also a bit out out of the somatic fusion loop since my days around academia

I wasn't aware of such fungal hybrids, and just put it "out there" out of interest, and thought it may prove an interesting point of discussion

Edited July 6, 2014 by waterboy

[ace1928]

Back on-topic- are you aware of any interesting developments in protoplast isolation or hybridisation over say the last ten years? I'm out of touch

Here are 2 links. Top link is for a decent little book and the bottom one is a recent journal article that shows a successful experiment with carrots i believe. Could be confusing the second one with something else though

http://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=By8psdGWgbkC&oi=fnd&pg=PP2&dq=plant+protoplast+fusion&ots=nuR2Ro9dwD&sig=3XKvmzdPbxIxjE4ZTo3NafqrBpM#v=onepage&q=plant%20protoplast%20fusion&f=false

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11240-013-0384-1

There are also a heap of other newer resources coming out at the moment too. Protoplast fusion seems to have taken quite a few advances in the past couple of years.

I imagine that fungal hybrids would potentially be easier to manage than plant hybrids. Plants are a bit pickier than fungi from personal experience so far.

To isolate human chitinases would require culturing the cartilage itself in fairly large numbers and then maybe using a type of electrophoresis or chromatography method to isolate the particle enzyme you wanted.

No way in the world do I think that's a viable option or a worthwhile option. Would be much better off isolating from a bacteria of some kind because of ease of propagation and the speed at which they multiply.

I find that even a "failed" experiment can be incredibly useful for learning. After all if you learn every single way NOT to do something it doesn't leave you many options left

[Darklight]

The first link is pure geek porn. Want. Mind you I've a shitload of cool stuff I haven't read yet, I just tend to do word searches through my library when I want something specific

The second link is merely disappointing, because I don't have a flow cytometer ;) Nah, I'll do a search for an entire recent article- abstracts are teasers

Last I heard the actual plant protoplast isolation was routine and successful, it was regenerating entire fused plants which was an issue. And success was very genus specific, especially if there was significant distance between the two. But that was yonks ago

Dammit, I could have gotten some nice fresh cartilage from a mate's surgery if you'd told me about this a week ago. Would have kept the chitinase in the family