ANALYSIS OF MORPHOLOGICAL AND MOLECULAR PARAMETERS RELATED TO THE DEGENERATION OF SOME CORDYCEPS MILITARIS STRAINS

Abstract

In this study, we performed assessment of various parameters related to growth, development and morphology of different Codyceps militaris strains, which showed certain levels of degeneration, at different culture stages. In addition, the information about the Mating-type (MAT) pairing locus was also analyzed and validated. Our results showed that sysptoms of the fungal degeneration could be identified at all stages of the artificial cultivation process. The highly degenerative strains showed pale or albino mycelia on the primary propagation medium, while pellets were not well performed at the liquid culture stage. The highly degenerated strains had significant reduction in mycelium development along with no fruiting body induction. The other degenerated strains showed morphological variety of fruit bodies. In addition, the MAT gene was not found in spores of the highly degenerated strains or occured at very low rate. These results provide sufficient strategies to early detect degenerative levels of C. militaris strains through morphological as well as molecular parameters at different culture stages.