Transcriptome profiling of Antrodia cinnamomea fruiting bodies grown on Cinnamomum kanehirae and C. camphora wood substrates

Antrodia cinnamomea is a rare medicinal fungus endemic to Taiwan, China. It has a high medicinal value, being rich in bioactive components such as triterpenes and polysaccharides. However, only a few studies have been conducted on A. cinnamomea fruiting bodies grown on Cinnamomum camphora wood culture. In this study, we performed transcriptome sequencing of A. cinnamomea fruiting bodies grown on C. kanehirae (NZF) and C. camphora (XZF) wood substrates. 18391 unigenes were annotated from the obtained reads, including 592 differentially expressed genes (170 up-regulated and 422 down-regulated) mainly enriched in the carbohydrate metabolism, lipid metabolism, and amino acid metabolism pathways. Comparing the transcriptome of NZF and XZF, genes encoding acetyl CoA synthetase and acetyl CoA C-acetyltransferase, involved in the terpenoid backbone biosynthesis, were highly expressed in NZF, while genes encoding glycosyltransferases and cytochrome P450s were highly expressed in XZF. There were no significant differences in the expression of the genes encoding farnesyl diphosphate farnesyltransferase, isopentenyldiphosphate isomerase, 2,3-oxidosqualene cyclase, and terpenoid synthase between NZF and XZF. The transcriptome analysis further supports that C. camphora is feasible as an alternative host of A. cinnamomea.