Corona discharge from multiple needles at an electrical potential of 5 kV generated by a Van de Graff generator increased the growth rate of the mycelium of tiger's milk mushroom by 10.3% at the end of the first eight days. A similar growth rate enhancement was observed for the next eight days as well. Mycelium of tiger's milk mushroom was cultured on agar media in Petri dish for five days prior to the exposure to various forms of electrical stimulations. The direct current injection (1.1-1.3 A) to the growing medium, application of an electric potential to the growing environment at low strength (30 V) and high strength (5 kV) with single and multiple needles showed varying degrees of success. This suggests that the mycelium of tiger's milk mushroom could positively be stimulated by specific electrical stimulation techniques with selected parameters. This will pave the way to a highly beneficial growth enhancement technique that can be up-scaled to apply in mass production of mushroom.
Wax apple is one of the underutilized fruits that is considered a good source of fibers, vitamins, minerals as well as antioxidants. In this study, a comparative analysis of the developments of wax fruit ripening at the proteomic and metabolomic level was reported. 2D electrophoresis coupled with MALDI-TOF/TOF was used to compare the proteome profile from three developmental stages named immature, young, and mature fruits. In general, the protein expression profile and the identified proteins function were discussed for their potential roles in fruit physiological development and ripening processes. The metabolomic investigation was also performed on the same samples using quadrupole LC-MS (LC-QTOF/MS). Roles of some of the differentially expressed proteins and metabolites are discussed in relation to wax apple ripening during the development. This is the first study investigating the changes in the proteins and metabolites in wax apple at different developmental stages. The information obtained from this research will be helpful in developing biomarkers for breeders and help the plant researchers to avoid wax apple cultivation problems such as fruit cracking.
Tiger's milk mushroom is known for its valuable medicinal properties, especially the tuber part. However, wild tuber is very hard to obtain as it grows underground. This study first aimed to cultivate tiger's milk mushroom tuber through a cultivation technique, and second to compare nutritional and mycochemical contents, antioxidant and cytotoxic activities and compound screening of the cultivated tuber with the wild tuber. Results showed an increase in carbohydrate content by 45.81% and protein content by 123.68% in the cultivated tuber while fat content reduced by 13.04%. Cultivated tuber also showed an increase of up to 64.21% for total flavonoid-like compounds and 62.51% of total β-D-glucan compared to the wild tuber. The antioxidant activity of cultivated tuber and wild tuber was 760 and 840 µg mL-1, respectively. The cytotoxic activity of boiled water extract of cultivated tuber against a human lung cancer cell line (A549) was 65.50 ± 2.12 µg mL-1 and against a human breast cancer cell line (MCF7) was 19.35 ± 0.11 µg mL-1. β-D-glucan extract from the purification of boiled water extract of cultivated tuber showed cytotoxic activity at 57.78 ± 2.29 µg mL-1 against A549 and 33.50 ± 1.41 µg mL-1 against MCF7. However, the β-glucan extract from wild tuber did not show a cytotoxic effect against either the A549 or MCF7 cell lines. Also, neither of the extracts from cultivated tuber and wild tuber showed an effect against a normal cell line (MRC5). Compound profiling through by liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC/MS) showed the appearance of new compounds in the cultivated tuber. In conclusion, our cultivated tuber of tiger's milk mushroom using a new recipe cultivation technique showed improved nutrient and bioactive compound contents, and antioxidant and cytotoxic activities compared to the wild tuber. Further investigations are required to obtain a better quality of cultivated tuber.