2026/05/03 by Yihong Li, L Liu, Miaoqing Li +13 · 1 voice
Medicine · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Agricultural and Biological Sciences · #Fungal Biology and Applications #Fungal and yeast genetics research #Mycorrhizal Fungi and Plant Interactions
paper · doi:10.1080/21501203.2026.2658280
openalex publication_date 2026/05/03 · openalex created_date 2026/05/05 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/13
Ganoderic acids (GAs), the major lanostane-type triterpenoids in Ganoderma lucidum (G. lucidum), possess diverse pharmacological activities but are produced at low levels, limiting their applications. Transcriptional regulation of GA biosynthesis remains poorly understood. In this study, we functionally characterized the GlZn2Cys6-type transcription factor GlZn2Cys682 and elucidated its role in GA biosynthesis. Overexpression of GlZn2Cys682 significantly increased total triterpenoids during the mycelial stage and promoted the accumulation of multiple individual GAs at the primordia stage, whereas silencing resulted in markedly reduced GA levels. qRT-PCR analyses revealed that GlZn2Cys682 positively regulates key biosynthetic genes, including HMGR, SQS, and LS, with SQS showing the strongest transcriptional induction. Subcellular localization assays demonstrated that GlZn2Cys682 is a nuclear protein, and yeast one-hybrid analyses confirmed its direct binding to the SQS promoter, establishing SQS as a downstream target. Comparative transcriptome profiling further showed that GlZn2Cys682 modulates genes involved in the mevalonate pathway and secondary metabolism. Collectively, our findings identify GlZn2Cys682 as a positive regulator of GA biosynthesis and provide a basis for metabolic engineering to increase GA production.