| Title | Reduction of Organic and Inorganic Selenium Compounds by the Edible Medicinal Basidiomycete Lentinula edodes and the Accumulation of Elemental Selenium Nanoparticles in Its Mycelium |
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| Author | Elena Vetchinkina, Ekaterina Loshchinina*, Viktor Kursky, and Valentina Nikitina |
| Address | Institute of Biochemistry and Physiology of Plants and Microorganisms, Russian Academy of Sciences, Saratov 410049, Russian Federation |
| Bibliography | Journal of Microbiology, 51(6),829–835, 2013, |
| DOI | 10.1007/s12275-013-2689-5 |
| Key Words | shiitake, elemental selenium, nanospheres, intracellular synthesis |
| Abstract | We report for the first time that the medicinal basidiomycete Lentinula edodes can reduce selenium from inorganic sodium selenite (SeIV) and the organoselenium compound 1,5- diphenyl-3-selenopentanedione-1,5 (DAPS-25) to the elemental state, forming spherical nanoparticles. Submerged cultivation of the fungus with sodium selenite or with DAPS- 25 produced an intense red coloration of L. edodes mycelial hyphae, indicating accumulation of elemental selenium (Se0) in a red modification. Several methods, including transmission electron microscopy (TEM), electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS), and X-ray fluorescence, were used to show that red Se0 accumulated intracellularly in the fungal hyphae as electron-dense nanoparticles with a diameter of 180.51±16.82 nm. Under designated cultivation conditions, shiitake did not reduce selenium from sodium selenate (SeVI). |