Effect of truffle extracts on growth of Chlorella vulgaris

  1. Anfisa A. Vlasova
  2. Olga E. Lipatova
  3. Alexander Y. Belyshenko
  4. Elena I. Martynova
  5. Natalia A. Imidoeva
  6. Tamara Y. Telnova
  7. Ekaterina V. Malygina
  8. Maria M. Morgunova
  9. Maria E. Dmitrieva
  10. Victoria N. Shelkovnikova
  11. Sophia S. Shashkina
  12. Tatiana N. Vavilina
  13. Denis V. Axenov-Gribanov

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Abstract

Truffles are hypogeous ectomycorrhizal fungi with a complex system of chemical communications and biotic interactions. This study examines the influence of truffle extracts on the growth of the alga Chlorella vulgaris as a model organism commonly employed in pharmacology, food industry and biomonitoring. The study involved sampling of fruiting bodies of black truffles in a number of regions across Russia, over a number of years. The observed differences in truffle condition were used to illustrate a potential correlation between the quality and biological activity of truffles. Methanolic extracts were prepared and added to the culture of C. vulgaris to evaluate the growth of algae using the spectrophotometry methods. For the first time, we demonstrated that truffle extracts had biological activity in terms of the algae C. vulgaris growth stimulation. We observed the effects of short-term and long-term growth stimulation. To date, it can be concluded that there is no direct correlation between the stimulating effects on algae and the state of truffles, place of their sampling, or their quality. Finally, it is crucial to examine biological regulations that operate in complex systems such as truffles. It is suggested that in the near future truffles may become a model system for the study of complex biotic and chemical communications.

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  1. Arcadia Science

    . Truffles may become a model system for the investigation of complex biotic and chemical communications in the near future.

    Thank you for sharing this work!!!!

  2. Arcadia Science

    The control group of C. vulgaris was cultivated with dry residue of methanol added, as a solvent of truffle extract. Truffle extracts were not added to the samples.

    It could strengthen your argument to include a Yeast Extract control to see if your effects are truffle specific. There have been reports of Yeast extract increasing Chlorella growth rates, but it would be nice to see it in comparison to your data. (J. Algal Biomass Utln. 2018, 9(1): 72-85 ) / (https://www.nature.com/articles/1831404a0)

    That being said, its nice to see how variable these effects can be depending on not only the source of the fungal extract, but the year & location of the sources isolation.

  3. Arcadia Science

    To perform the extraction, 0.5 grams of each truffle sample were defrosted and homogenized using a mortar and pestle with methanol added in a ratio of 1:10.

    How variable were the truffles in mass? I could image an entire 0.5 g truffle would be more nutrient-rich than a 0.5 g fragment of a 10 g truffle. It would be nice to have the full fruit mass listed in Table 1 to see if there are any relationships here.

  4. Arcadia Science

    The experiment was conducted in three stages. In the first stage, the experimental group included the following extracts: Tuber sp. LPB2020-16, Tuber sp. LPB2020-17, Tuber sp. LPB2021-22, Tuber sp. LPB2021-23, Tuber sp. LPB2021-24, Tuber sp. LPB2021-26, Tuber sp. LPB2021-28, Tuber sp. LPB2021-29, and Tuber sp. LPB2021-27. In the second stage, the experimental group included the following extracts: Tuber sp. LPB2022-58, Tuber sp. LPB2022-59, Tuber sp. LPB2022-61, Tuber sp. LPB2022-67, and Tuber sp. LPB2022-69. In the third stage, the experimental group included the following extracts: Tuber sp. LPB2021-30, Tuber sp. LPB2022-39, Tuber sp. LPB2022-42, and Tuber sp. LPB2022-47. Each stage had its own control group of C. vulgaris.

    You've listed 18 samples here and in table 1, but Figure 1 only shows 15 being used, including LPB2022-47, which could be very interesting to look at given its reported unpleasant scent. I see this data is listed in Table 2 though. Thank you.

  5. Arcadia Science

    To assess the dynamics of the algae growth, we measured the culture optical density on days 2, 4 and 6 of the experiment.

    Was this also at 530 nm? Did the cultures look clean? I'm wondering if there were any spores/contaminants that were inside of the tuber that survived the 70% ethanol wash, freezing, and methanol treatment. The low wavelength OD would pick up on bacteria and fungal growth.

  6. Arcadia Science

    Also, Table 1 shows the dynamics of growth of C. vulgaris algae (expressed in % related to control group).

    It looks like this should be referring to Table 2 instead

  7. Version published to 10.1101/2024.07.03.601813v1 on bioRxiv