{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,15]],"date-time":"2026-04-15T07:25:37Z","timestamp":1776237937881,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":56,"publisher":"Pensoft Publishers","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,15]],"date-time":"2026-04-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1776211200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["imafungus"],"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    <jats:italic>Cordyceps cicadae<\/jats:italic>\n                    is a traditional precious medicinal and edible entomogenous fungus. Its asexual fruiting bodies are highly valued in natural health food. Currently, the intrinsic mechanisms regulating fruiting body development in\n                    <jats:italic>C. cicadae<\/jats:italic>\n                    remain largely elusive. The Fus3\/MAK2 homolog within the MAPK signaling pathway plays a crucial role in sexual reproduction and pathogenesis in filamentous fungi, yet its function in the fruiting body development of\n                    <jats:italic>C. cicadae<\/jats:italic>\n                    has not been reported. Therefore, this study focused on\n                    <jats:italic>CcMAK2<\/jats:italic>\n                    from\n                    <jats:italic>C. cicadae<\/jats:italic>\n                    , constructing gene overexpression and knockout strains to analyze its impact on fungal growth and development. The results demonstrated that the knockout strain (\u0394CcMAK2) failed to penetrate the insect cuticle from inside, and completely lost the ability to form fruiting bodies. In contrast, the wild-type (WT) and overexpression strain (CcMAK2\n                    <jats:sup>OE<\/jats:sup>\n                    ) developed normally, indicating that\n                    <jats:italic>CcMAK2<\/jats:italic>\n                    is essential for fruiting body formation in\n                    <jats:italic>C. cicadae<\/jats:italic>\n                    . Functional analysis revealed that the \u0394CcMAK2 mutant exhibited significantly reduced levels of H\n                    <jats:sub>2<\/jats:sub>\n                    O\n                    <jats:sub>2<\/jats:sub>\n                    and O\n                    <jats:sub>2<\/jats:sub>\n                    <jats:sup>.<\/jats:sup>\n                    \u2013during the fruiting stage, accompanied by increased activities of CAT and GR enzymes, as well as elevated chitinase activity. These findings suggest that the deletion of\n                    <jats:italic>CcMAK2<\/jats:italic>\n                    is associated with alterations in ROS homeostasis and cell wall-related enzyme. Gene expression analysis further showed that the deletion of\n                    <jats:italic>CcMAK2<\/jats:italic>\n                    led to altered transcript levels of the downstream transcription factor\n                    <jats:italic>Ste12<\/jats:italic>\n                    and the cell wall integrity pathway-related gene\n                    <jats:italic>CcSO<\/jats:italic>\n                    . These results suggest that\n                    <jats:italic>CcMAK2<\/jats:italic>\n                    may be involved in regulating these genes, potentially contributing to its role in fruiting body development. This study provides foundational insights into the role of\n                    <jats:italic>CcMAK2<\/jats:italic>\n                    in fruiting body development in\n                    <jats:italic>C. cicadae<\/jats:italic>\n                    and lays groundwork for further mechanistic studies in\n                    <jats:italic>Cordyceps<\/jats:italic>\n                    and other fungi.\n                  <\/jats:p>\n                  <jats:p>\n                    <jats:bold>Graphical abstract<\/jats:bold>\n                  <\/jats:p>\n                  <jats:p\/>","DOI":"10.3897\/imafungus.17.185776","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,15]],"date-time":"2026-04-15T06:34:09Z","timestamp":1776234849000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["The CcMAK2 gene is required for proper asexual fruiting body formation in Cordyceps 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of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guiyang, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5682-9753","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Jie","family":"Han","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Guizhou Key Laboratory of Microbio and Infectious Disease Prevention & Control, Guizhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guiyang, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2972-382X","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Jiehong","family":"Zhao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Guizhou Key Laboratory of Modern Chinese Medicine Creation, Guizhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guiyang, China"},{"name":"College of Pharmacy, Guizhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guiyang, 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