Genome shuffling improved the nucleosides production in Cordyceps kyushuensis

- Cordyceps kyushuensis is regarded as the rich source of active compounds.
- Genome shuffling was first applied to improve the production of nucleosides in Cordyceps kyushuensis.
- Ten improved strains with good genetic stability were obtained.

Genome shuffling was first applied to improve the production of nucleosides in Cordyceps kyushuensis. Six improved strains were selected for genome shuffling by UV and HNO2 mutagenesis. Ten improved genome shuffling strains with good genetic stability were obtained, among which, the production of cordycepin in R6 was 9.624 times higher than that of the ancestor. While in R18 and R19, the yield of cordycepin, adenosine, guanosine and uridine were all increased greatly compared with the ancestor. Based on the four phenotypes of the content of cordycepin, adenosine, guanosine and uridine, hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA) and principal component analysis (PCA) were applied to infer the relationships between genome shuffling strains and mutants.