Bacterial Community Patterns in the Agaricus bisporus Cultivation System, from Compost Raw Materials to Mushroom Caps

Different from other fungal species that can be largely cultivated in ‘axenic conditions’ using plant material (e.g., species of Lentinula and Pleurotus in ‘sterile’ straw-based substrate), the commercial Agaricus bisporus cultivation system relies heavily on ecological relationships with a broad range of microorganisms present in the system (compost and casing). Since the A. bisporus cultivation system consists of a microbial manipulation process, it is important to know the microbial community dynamics during the entire cultivation cycle to design further studies and/or crop management strategies to optimize this system. To capture the bacterial community ‘flow’ from compost raw materials to the casing to the formation and maturation of mushroom caps, community snapshots were generated by direct DNA recovery (amplicon sequencing). The ‘bacterial community flow’ revealed that compost, casing and mushrooms represent different niches for bacteria present in the cultivation system, but at the same time, a bacterial exchange between microenvironments can occur for a portion of the community. Within each microenvironment, compost showed intense bacterial populational dynamics, probably due to the environmental changes imposed by composting conditions. In casing, the colonization of A. bisporus appeared, to reshape the native bacterial community which later, with some other members present in compost, becomes the core community in mushroom caps. The current bacterial survey along with previous results provides more cues of specific bacteria groups that can be in association with A. bisporus development and health.