Lepista sordida is a valuable edible mushroom rich in natural bioactive compounds. In the present study, a high-quality whole-genome of a domesticated strain of L. sordida was sequenced, revealing a 40.67 Mb genome in 13 contigs. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that L. sordida is evolutionarily closely related to edible mushroom Lyophyllum decastes and Hypsizygus marmoreus. Heat stress has a significant effect on the yield and quality of mushrooms, but the molecular basis for this is poorly understood in L. sordida. A label-free comparative proteomic analysis was performed under different heat stress conditions. The growth of L. sordida mycelia was inhibited, and nuclear apoptosis occurred under heat stress. Ca²⁺ and MAPK signaling pathways were found to be involved in heat stress signal transduction. It is hypothesized that the expression of various heat shock proteins plays a crucial role in the response to heat stress. In addition, the components of the ubiquitin-proteasome system and the thioredoxin system were upregulated, preventing the accumulation of misfolded proteins and possibly supporting the response to heat stress. In summary, these results provide a fundamental insight into the evolution and heat stress-responsive mechanisms in L. sordida and may facilitate the breeding of heat-tolerant strains for artificial cultivation.

The wild Lepista sordida is a kind of precious and rare edible fungus. An excellent strain of it by artificial domestication was obtained, which was high-yield and high in iron content. In this study, high-throughput comparative proteomics was used to reveal the regulatory mechanism of its primordium differentiation in the early fruiting body formation. The mycelium before the primordium differentiation mainly expressed high levels of mitochondrial functional proteins and carbon dioxide concentration regulatory proteins. In young mushrooms, the highly expressed proteins were mainly involved in cell component generation, cell proliferation, nitrogen compound metabolism, nucleotide metabolism, glutathione metabolism, and purine metabolism. The differential regulation patterns of pileus and stipe growth to maturity were also revealed. The highly expressed proteins related to transcription, RNA splicing, the production of various organelles, DNA conformational change, nucleosome organization, protein processing, maturation and transport, and cell detoxification regulated the pileus development and maturity. The proteins related to carbohydrate and energy metabolism, large amounts of obsolete cytoplasmic parts, nutrient deprivation, and external stimuli regulated the stipe development and maturity. Multiple CAZymes regulated nutrient absorption, morphogenesis, spore production, stress response, and other life activities at different growth and development stages.