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Auricularia heimuer is among China's most important edible mushrooms and is rich in gum. With the improvement of people's quality of life, demand is increasing for high-quality and good-tasting food; thus, the texture of A. heimuer is the focus of increasing attention. In this study, we added extra markers to a previously constructed genetic linkage map to generate a high-density genetic linkage map of A. heimuer, resolved the attributes of substrate quality-related traits, and performed quantitative trait locus (QTL) localization. The original genetic linkage map was improved by adding two new linkage groups, merging seven linkage groups into three linkage groups, and increasing the average linkage distance and total linkage estimated length. We anchored the 142 scaffolds of the genome to the improved genetic linkage map. In total, 15 significant QTLs controlling four quality-related traits were detected. Gumminess and chewiness, and cohesiveness and resilience, were linked. Three genes controlled cohesiveness and resilience; one gene controlled gumminess and chewiness. In conclusion, this study lays the foundation for gene localization and chromosome assembly in A. heimuer, elucidation of the mechanism of substrate quality-related trait formation, and provides a basis for precision breeding of A. heimuer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Owing to its great market potential for food and health care, white Auricularia cornea , a rare edible fungus, has received increased attention in recent years. This study presents a high-quality genome assembly of A. cornea and multi-omics analysis of its pigment synthesis pathway. Continuous Long Reads libraries, combined with Hi-C-assisted assembly were used to assemble of white A. cornea . Based on this data, we analyzed the transcriptome and metabolome of purple and white strains during the mycelium, primordium, and fruiting body stages. Finally, we obtained the genome of A.cornea assembled from 13 clusters. Comparative and evolutionary analysis suggests that A.cornea is more closely related to Auricularia subglabra than to Auricularia heimuer . The divergence of white/purple A.cornea occurred approximately 40,000 years ago, and there were numerous inversions and translocations between homologous regions of the two genomes. Purple strain synthesized pigment via the shikimate pathway. The pigment in the fruiting body of A. cornea was γ-glutaminyl-3,4-dihydroxy-benzoate. During pigment synthesis, α-D-glucose-1P, citrate, 2-Oxoglutarate, and glutamate were four important intermediate metabolites, whereas polyphenol oxidase and other 20 enzyme genes were the key enzymes. This study sheds light on the genetic blueprint and evolutionary history of the white A.cornea genome, revealing the mechanism of pigment synthesis in A.cornea . It has important theoretical and practical implications for understanding the evolution of basidiomycetes, molecular breeding of white A.cornea , and deciphering the genetic regulations of edible fungi. Additionally, it provides valuable insights for the study of phenotypic traits in other edible fungi., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Ma, Lu, Yao, Fang, Wang, Meng, Shao, Sun and Zhang.)