Characterization of PEBP-like Genes and Function of Capebp1 and Capebp5 in Fruiting Body Regeneration in Cyclocybe aegerita

Phosphatidylethanolamine-binding proteins (PEBPs) play a crucial role in the growth and development of various organisms. Due to the low sequence similarity compared to plants, humans, and animals, the study of genes in fungi has not received significant attention. The redifferentiation of fruiting bodies is exceedingly rare in fungal development. Hitherto, only a few studies have identified the gene as being associated with this phenomenon in . Thus, exploring the role of genes in fruiting body development is imperative. In the present study, four genes ( , , , and ) were cloned from the AC0007 strain of based on genome sequencing and gene prediction. The findings indicate that the family, in , comprises a total of five genes. Moreover, the sequence similarity was low across the five CAPEBP protein sequences in , and only a few conserved sequences, such as HRY and RHF, were identical. Expression analyses revealed that, similarly to , the four genes exhibit significantly higher expression levels in the fruiting bodies than in the mycelium. Furthermore, overexpressed and RNA interference or transformants were analyzed. The results demonstrate that overexpression of or could induce the regeneration of the lamella or fruiting body, whereas the knockdown of or could lead to the accelerated aging of fruiting bodies. These findings highlight a significant role of genes in the generation of fruiting bodies and provide a foundation for further exploration into their involvement in basidiomycete growth and development.