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Introduction: Scorias spongiosa is an edible fungus. Methods: In this study, a nontargeted metabonomic analysis was conducted on the fruiting bodies of this fungus at five growth stages, and the differences in metabolites and the related metabolic pathways during growth and development were analysed. Results: This study revealed that the five growth stages of S. spongiosa fruiting bodies were associated with 15 pathways. These 15 metabolic pathways are speculated to play important roles in the growth of S. spongiosa fruiting bodies. Eleven bioactive substances were identified among the differentially expressed compounds. The content of six bioactive substances was highest at the S1 growth stage among all the growth stages. The metabolites related to sugar metabolism were enriched in three main pathways: pentose and gluconate interconversions, the pentose phosphate pathway, and the citrate cycle (TCA cycle). Discussion: These results suggested that the S1 growth stage can be selected as the harvest period of S. spongiosa in fruiting bodies to retain most of the bioactive substances. Pentose and gluconate interconversions, the pentose phosphate pathway, and the TCA cycle are related to changes in polysaccharide content during the growth of S. spongiosa fruiting bodies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IntroductionScorias spongiosa is an edible fungus.MethodsIn this study, a nontargeted metabonomic analysis was conducted on the fruiting bodies of this fungus at five growth stages, and the differences in metabolites and the related metabolic pathways during growth and development were analysed.ResultsThis study revealed that the five growth stages of S. spongiosa fruiting bodies were associated with 15 pathways. These 15 metabolic pathways are speculated to play important roles in the growth of S. spongiosa fruiting bodies. Eleven bioactive substances were identified among the differentially expressed compounds. The content of six bioactive substances was highest at the S1 growth stage among all the growth stages. The metabolites related to sugar metabolism were enriched in three main pathways: pentose and gluconate interconversions, the pentose phosphate pathway, and the citrate cycle (TCA cycle).DiscussionThese results suggested that the S1 growth stage can be selected as the harvest period of S. spongiosa in fruiting bodies to retain most of the bioactive substances. Pentose and gluconate interconversions, the pentose phosphate pathway, and the TCA cycle are related to changes in polysaccharide content during the growth of S. spongiosa fruiting bodies.

The experiment used Scorias spongiosa as the material, to develop a new limiting resistance feed additive. An orthogonal test was used to determine the optimum extraction conditions of Scorias spongiosa extract. The Oxford cup method was employed to investigate the antibacterial effects of ethanol extracts from Scorias spongiosa on three Grampositive bacteria (Enterococcus faecalis, Staphylococcus aureus, and Staphylococcus epidermidis) and three Gramnegative bacteria (Salmonella typhimurium, Salmonella pullorum, and Escherichia coli). The results indicated that the optimal extraction process for Scorias spongiosa inhibitory extracts was an ethanol concentration of 85%, a liquid-to-material ratio of 5 mL/g, an extraction time of 180 minutes, and an extraction temperature of 50 t. The inhibitory effect of Scorias spongiosa ethanol extracts on Gram-positive bacteria was superior to that on Gram-negative bacteria. The study clarifies the potential application value of Scorias spongiosa in terms of antibacterial properties, providing reference for the development of antibacterial products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, several surfactant and organic solvents were supplied to enhance the production of polysaccharides (EPSs) from Scorias spongiosa. The EPSs were purified by Sepharose CL-6B gel filtration chromatography and their molecular characteristics were examined by a multiangle laser-light scattering (MALLS) and refractive index (RI) detector system. It was found that Tween 80 and chloroform displayed a stimulatory effect on EPS secretion. The approximate weight-average molar masses of the EPSs obtained by the addition of Tween 80 (EPS-T), chloroform (EPS-cl) and control (EPS-C) were determined to be 1.628×106, 1.606×106 and 1.066×106 g/mol, respectively. Monosaccharide composition analysis indicated that EPS-T, EPS-E and EPS-C were mainly composed of mannose and glucose. All the three EPSs showed cytotoxic activities on the human liver cancer (Hep-G2) and human osteosarcoma (MG-63) cell lines and EPS-cl exhibited better effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Specialist herbivores are thought to often enhance or maintain plant diversity within ecosystems, because they prevent their host species from becoming competitively dominant. In contrast, specialist herbivores are not generally expected to have negative impacts on non-hosts. However, we describe a cascade of indirect interactions whereby a specialist sooty mold (Scorias spongiosa) colonizes the honeydew from a specialist beech aphid (Grylloprociphilus imbricator), ultimately decreasing the survival of seedlings beneath American beech trees (Fagus grandifolia). A common garden experiment indicated that this mortality resulted from moldy honeydew impairing leaf function rather than from chemical or microbial changes to the soil. In addition, aphids consistently and repeatedly colonized the same large beech trees, suggesting that seedling-depauperate islands may form beneath these trees. Thus this highly specialized three-way beech-aphid–fungus interaction has the potential to negatively impact local forest regeneration via a cascade of indirect effects.

Specialist herbivores are thought to often enhance or maintain plant diversity within ecosystems, because they prevent their host species from becoming competitively dominant. In contrast, specialist herbivores are not generally expected to have negative impacts on non-hosts. However, we describe a cascade of indirect interactions whereby a specialist sooty mold (Scorias spongiosa) colonizes the honeydew from a specialist beech aphid (Grylloprociphilus imbricator), ultimately decreasing the survival of seedlings beneath American beech trees (Fagus grandifolia). A common garden experiment indicated that this mortality resulted from moldy honeydew impairing leaf function rather than from chemical or microbial changes to the soil. In addition, aphids consistently and repeatedly colonized the same large beech trees, suggesting that seedling-depauperate islands may form beneath these trees. Thus this highly specialized three-way beech-aphid-fungus interaction has the potential to negatively impact local forest regeneration via a cascade of indirect effects.