To examine the effect of exposure to a static magnetic field or an extremely low frequency magnetic field on gene expression, carbohydrate metabolism and hyphal growth in truffle mycelium.
Truffle is a very expensive edible mushroom, which cultivation is difficult. Therefore, the exposure to magnetic fields could represent a possibility to improve cultivation strategies.
Hyphae are long, branching filamentous structures of the fungi.
| Exposure | Parameters |
|---|---|
|
Exposure 1:
Exposure duration:
continuous for 1 h/day for 3 days
|
|
|
Exposure 2:
50 Hz
Exposure duration:
continuous for 1 h/day for 3 days
|
|
| Frequency | |
|---|---|
| Type | |
| Exposure duration | continuous for 1 h/day for 3 days |
| Exposure source |
|
|---|---|
| Setup | 10 mm thick neodymium disks with a diameter of 28.85 mm |
| Sham exposure | A sham exposure was conducted. |
| Measurand | Value | Type | Method | Mass | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| magnetic flux density | 300 mT | peak value | - | - | in the middle of the culture |
| Frequency | 50 Hz |
|---|---|
| Type | |
| Exposure duration | continuous for 1 h/day for 3 days |
| Exposure source |
|
|---|---|
| Chamber | mycelium (21 day-cultured) placed in 50 ml flasks inside the containers (unit 1) |
| Setup | exposure apparatus consisted of 4 units, allowing uniform exposure to magnetic B-field (unit 1), electric E-field (unit 2), mutually orthogonal E- and B-fields (unit 3), and no field (unit 4); Faraday shields excluded electric noise in the units; each unit had 4 rectangular containers filled with circulating distilled water for thermalization (24°C); only unit 1 and unit 4 were used; unit 1 consisted of three 40 cm x 40 cm parallel copper plates; B-field parallel to the plates' surfaces |
| Sham exposure | A sham exposure was conducted. |
| Measurand | Value | Type | Method | Mass | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| magnetic flux density | 0.1 mT | - | measured | - | - |
In cell cultures exposed to extremely low frequency magnetic fields, the gene expression of all examined genes was significantly upregulated compared to the control group. However, no significant differences regarding gene expression were observed between the static magnetic field exposure and the control group.
The enzyme activities of hexokinase, glucose phosphate isomerase, pyruvate kinase and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase were significantly increased in the cell cultures exposed to extremely low frequency magnetic fields in comparison to the control group, while in the static magnetic field exposed group only the enzyme activities of hexokinase and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase were significantly increased.
No differences were observed regarding hyphal growth.
The authors conclude that exposure to extremely low frequency magnetic fields induced changes in gene expression and metabolism of the truffle mycelium and could be a possibility to improve prospective cultivation methods.
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