Comprehensive analysis of the metabolome and the whole genome transcriptome to reveal the regulatory mechanism the flavor of Phallus rubrovolvatus

Phallus rubrovolvatus (P. rubrovolvatus) is a large and rare fungus widely consumed and used for medicinal purposes in East Asian countries, earning the reputation of "plant meat". We created a reference genome for P. rubrovolvatus, with an assembly length of 33.39 Mb and 144 overlapping groups. We identified 9204 coding genes on the genome, of which 231 gene clusters are related to amino acid synthesis and transport. In this study, via integrating the flavor-related metabolite and transcriptome data of five different developmental stages of P. rubrovolvatus, we produced a global map of the alterations in flavor-related metabolites throughout the entire development process of P. rubrovolvatus. With this dataset, we constructed a complex regulatory network, thereby identifying the key structural genes and metabolites for the regulation of free amino acids in the flavor formation of P. rubrovolvatus, and glutathione and 5'-nucleotides possess a strong synergistic fresh-enhancing effect. In the five different developmental stages of P. rubrovolvatus, the regulation of the identified genes related to the synthesis of amino acids and derivatives on flavor metabolism has been confirmed, which demonstrates that our dataset offers a suitable instrument for elucidating the regulatory substances that control the flavor biosynthetic pathways, which were previously not elucidated. Overall, our research findings not only provide novel insights into the metabolic regulation of flavor during the mycelia developmental process of P. rubrovolvatus, but also lay the groundwork for enhancing the flavor of P. rubrovolvatus.