Five-year cryopreservation at -80 °C of edible and medicinal basidiomycetes by wheat grain technique

This research has focused on basidiomycete cryopreservation at -80 °C and developed a cryopreservation method based on the use of hard or medium-hard endosperm wheat grains as a mycelial carrier for cryopreservation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the mycelial viability of edible and medicinal basidiomycetes, using 13 strains of Agaricus spp. and eight strains of non-Agaricus spp., cryopreserved at -80 °C on hard endosperm wheat grain, with or without cryoprotectant agent (4% glucose), for two and five years. Two groups of basidiomycetes, Agaricus genus and other non-Agaricus genera, were cryopreserved at -80 °C by wheat grain technique for two and five years. The cryopreservation technique with hard endosperm wheat grain without cryoprotectant (preservation substrate), settled previously for A. subrufescens is efficient to cryopreserve other basidiomycetes such as Lentinus crinitus, Pleurotus ostreatus, Pleurotus eryngii, Schizophyllum commune, and Lentinula edodes, besides A. subrufescens strains.