Abstract

GENETIC MODIFICATION OF EDIBLE MUSHROOMS TO ENHANCE ITS QUALITY AND YIELD - A REVIEW

Aishwarya Laxminarayan Konka and Shivani Kakkar Khanna*

ABSTRACT

Mushrooms are thought to be supernatural in origin. Edible mushrooms are a good source of proteins, carbohydrates, minerals, antioxidants and vitamins. Apart from nutritional values, mushrooms also have many medicinal properties like anti-cancer, antiviral, antibiotic, anti-depressant activities. Research on mushroom breeding and production is very limited due to a lack of previous knowledge of the genetics and breeding system in these crops. Hence, it is important to consider modern techniques for improving the quality of mushrooms and also to increase their yield to meet the availability of the growing population. In this paper, genetic modifications in mushroom such as gamma-irradiation, transgenic or crossing breeding, polyethylene glycol mediated transformation and use of synthetic plasmids have been discussed along with cultivation technology and its future perspectives.

Keywords: Edible Mushroom, Nutritional Values, Transgenic Breeding, PEG-Mediated Transformation, Synthetic Plasmids.