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Abstract: Competitiveness of the UK mushroom industry is reliant on high-quality mushroom production. Currently, there is a lack of information on the physiological changes and biochemical reactions contributing to quality loss post-harvest and their points of regulation. Recently, a library of genes upregulated during senescence has been produced and a stress-adaptation gene identified. Both the cDNA and the genomic DNA for superoxide dismutase (SOD) has been fully sequenced and comparisons of the derived protein sequence with databases confirm its identity with very high probability. Expression studies have been carried out to examine levels of gene transcripts over time (post-harvest) and in different tissues. Analysis of superoxide free radicals showed that they are high at day 0 and decline postharvest. Here we discuss the advantage to a harvested mushroom of having greatly elevated transcript levels of SOD is that it is able to respond rapidly to potentially lethal levels of superoxide radicals and the significance of these observations for improved post-harvest quality.
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