Factors affecting heavy metal accumulation in macrofungi

The project combines geochemical, mycological, and molecular biology approaches and aims to provide better understanding of the factors and mechanisms affecting accumulation of Ag, Cu, Cd and Cd in macrofungi. To assess environmental factors in situ, the fractionation and mobility of metals in soil horizons will be analyzed at model sites. Colonization of soil horizons will be studied in Amanita strobiliformis. Pb isotopic composition of sporocarps will be used to trace the soil depth origin of accumulated metals. Distinct mycelial isolates of A. strobiliformis and Hebeloma mesophaeum will be subjected to phenotypic characterization, and subcellular metal species and expression of metal-related genes in mycelia will be investigated; gene-silencing and heterologous gene expression will be used to prove gene function or redirect the flow of intracellular metals. The accumulation of target metals and their intracellular forms will further be investigated in sporocarps of representative taxa, with special emphasis on Russula, Cystoderma a Phaeocollybia spp.