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Scientia Silvae Sinicae ›› 2026, Vol. 62 ›› Issue (3): 146-160.doi: 10.11707/j.1001-7488.LYKX20250281

• Research papers • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Fungal Elicitors Promote Flavonoid Biosynthesis in Sanghuangporus vaninii and the Underlying Mechanisms

Yuwei Zhang1,2,3,Mengting Mo1,2,3,Bo Shu1,2,3,Jiajia Yao3,Zhilin Yuan1,3,*()   

  1. 1. State Key Laboratory of Tree Genetics and Breeding Chinese Academy of Forestry Beijing 100091
    2. College of Forestry and Grassland, Nanjing Forestry University Nanjing 210037
    3. Institute of Subtropical Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry Hangzhou 311400
  • Received:2025-05-08 Revised:2025-10-25 Online:2026-03-15 Published:2026-03-12
  • Contact: Zhilin Yuan E-mail:yuanzl@caf.ac.cn

Abstract:

Objective: This study aims to explore the effects of fungal elicitors from different fungi and different types of fungal elicitors from the same fungus on the growth of mycelia & fruiting bodies and flavonoid content, effective medicinal components of Sanghuangporus vaninii, in order to comprehensively evaluate the efficiency of fungal elicitors in different growth stages and culture environments. Method: Three different types of fungal elicitors were prepared from 11 different soil fungi. A total of 33 different fungal elicitors were used to treat the mycelia of S. vaninii. The biomass, flavonoid content and flavonoid production were statistically analyzed, and three optimal fungal elicitors were screened out based on the three indicators. The real-time quantitative PCR was used to preliminarily verify the molecular mechanism by which three optimal fungal elicitors enhanced flavonoid content. The induction conditions of fungal elicitors were optimized by the response surface method. Three optimal fungal elicitors were applied to the fruiting bodies to verify the accumulation of flavonoid content. Finally, non-targeted metabolomics analysis was conducted on the mycelia and the fermentation broth of strain HSL, which had a better effect in increasing the flavonoid content of S. vaninii. Result: Three optimal fungal elicitors (NL-19M, NL-19ME and HSLFE) had the best induction effects on the biomass, flavonoid content and flavonoid production of S. vaninii. Moreover, the three fungal elicitors promoted the accumulation of flavonoid content by increasing the expression levels of different key enzymes in the flavonoid biosynthesis pathway. There were differences in the optimization conditions for the biomass, flavonoid content and flavonoid production by the elicitors of the same fungus. The flavonoid contents of the fruiting bodies treated with NL-19M, NL-19ME and HSLFE were all higher than those of the control. The active ingredients of fungal elicitors may be lipids and lipid-like molecules. Conclusion: Different optimal fungal elicitors treatments can activate the expression of different key enzymes for flavonoid biosynthesis and have different induction conditions, reflecting the complexity of fungal metabolic regulation and revealing the regulatory mechanism of fungal elicitors on the flavonoid biosynthesis. This study provides a more complete and systematic theoretical basis for the commercial application of fungal elicitors and the establishment of a technical system for improving the quality and efficiency of under-forest economy including medicinal and edible fungi.

Key words: fungal elicitors, Sanghuangporus vaninii biomass, flavonoid content, optimized conditions, fruiting body

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