Korean Journal of Mycology (Kor. J. Mycol.)
Indexed in SCOPUS, KCI, DOAJ
OPEN ACCESS, PEER REVIEWED
pISSN 0253-651X
eISSN 2383-5249
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Changes in Bioluminescence of Omphalotus japonicus Mycelia under Environmental Stress Conditions

Division of Special Forest Products, Department of Forest Bioresources, National Institute of Forest
Science, Suwon 16631, Korea

Correspondence to rryoo@korea.kr

Korean Journal of Mycology (Kor J Mycol) December, 2020, 48(4):381-388.
https://doi.org/10.4489/KJM.20200037
Accepted: December 21, 2020; Revised: December 17, 2020; Received: December 14, 2020
Published: December, 2020.
© 2020 THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF MYCOLOGY.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

ABSTRACT

Bioluminescence refers to the production and emission of light in living organisms. This phenomenon arises from luciferase-catalyzed oxidation reaction of luciferin. Bioluminescence is widely observed in marine vertebrates and invertebrates, as well as in some microorganisms and fungi. To date, approximately 80 species of fungi have been reported to be luminous. One such example is Omphalotus japonicus, which is a luminous fungus found in Korea. In this study, we examined the bioluminescence of Omphalotus japonicus mycelia. Light emission was detected at the edges of mycelia grown on solid agar medium. Notably, the intensity of bioluminescence was found to be significantly enhanced following wound induction. The increase in light intensity peaked at 3 h after mechanical damage. We also investigated the effects of extreme temperatures on bioluminescence. Unlike mechanical damage, high and low temperatures repressed the light emission from mycelia. Further investigations are required to reveal the physiological and ecological properties of fungal bioluminescent responses to environmental stresses.

Keywords

Bioluminescence, Luciferase, Omphalotus japonicus, Temperature stress, Wounding stress

Section