Homeobox transcription factors involved in fruiting body development of Volvariella volvacea

The genome of V. volvacea revealed 47 genes encoding homeobox transcription factors. Of them, 8 differentially expressed homeobox transcription factors were obtained by comparing the gene expression during primordia and elongation formation. Furthermore, quantitative real-time PCR was performed on selected genes with different expression levels to demonstrate the utility of digital gene expression for gene expression profiles during fruiting body formation. The results showed that five homeobox transcription factors were up-regulated during primordia formation, and three homeobox transcription factors were down-regulated from the egg stage to elongation stage. Overall, a critical role for homeobox transcription factor was believed to contribute to the fruiting body formation. Overall design: Using the 3'-tag digital gene expression (DGE), we compared the gene expression profiles in fruiting body development of V. volvacea.