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Home ›› About Speciation ›› Speciation News

New selenium compounds found in edible mushrooms

(12.11.2025)

Researchers have uncovered how two edible mushroom species — Pleurotus ostreatus (oyster mushroom) and Hericium coralloides (coral tooth fungus) — absorb and transform selenium when cultivated with selenite (Se(IV)) or selenate (Se(VI)).

Background:
Selenium is an essential trace element with notable health benefits, including antioxidant activity and support for immune function. Organic selenium species such as selenomethionine and selenocysteine are known for their superior bioavailability compared to inorganic forms, making them increasingly preferred for nutritional supplementation.

Several plant species have been studied for their ability to bioaccumulate selenium, aiming to develop selenium-enriched foods as natural dietary sources. Mushrooms, renowned for their capacity to accumulate and biotransform selenium into organic compounds, have emerged as particularly promising candidates for producing bioaccessible selenium.

The new study:

A research team from France and Poland investigated how P. ostreatus and H. coralloides absorb and metabolize selenium when grown on substrates enriched with selenite (Se(IV)) or selenate (Se(VI)).

Pleurotus ostreatus (oyster mushroom)
CC BY-SA 3.0

Hericium coralloides (coral tooth fungus)
CC BY-SA 3.0

The mushrooms were cultivated under carefully controlled conditions—temperature, humidity, CO₂ concentration, and illumination were optimized. Mature fruiting bodies were harvested in successive flushes, oven-dried at 40 °C to constant weight, and finely ground. The homogenized samples were subjected to a four-step ultrasonic-assisted sequential extraction using water, gluconate/ammonium acetate, protease, and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS).

Total selenium concentrations were measured by ICP-MS following acid digestion. Selenium species were identified by HPLC-ICP-MS using both anion-exchange and hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC). The HILIC eluates were further analyzed by high-resolution LC-ESI-MS (240,000 resolution) with data-dependent MS/MS fragmentation to characterize selenium-containing metabolites.

Key Findings

Selenium uptake: Both mushroom species absorbed 4–8 times more selenium from Se(IV)-enriched substrates than from Se(VI)-enriched ones, reaching up to ~400 µg Se/g dry weight.
Metabolization: Anion-exchange HPLC-ICP-MS revealed nearly complete (>98.5%) conversion of Se(IV) into organic forms, while non-metabolized Se(VI) accounted for 8–18%, depending on species.
Selenium distribution:

40–60% of total selenium occurred in water-soluble compounds,
10–20% was associated with polysaccharides, and
1–5% with proteins.

The water-soluble selenium fraction, which contained the majority of the accumulated element, was analyzed in detail using HILIC–ESI-MS. This revealed ten previously unreported selenium metabolites, including several selenoneine derivatives and vinyl-selenocysteine-containing dipeptides. These findings suggest the existence of novel metabolic pathways for selenium biotransformation in mushrooms.

Conclusion

The study demonstrates that P. ostreatus and H. coralloides are highly effective in converting inorganic selenium into bioavailable organic forms. Their selenium metabolomes differ significantly between species, reflecting distinct metabolic capabilities. The discovery of new selenium-containing compounds expands our understanding of fungal selenium metabolism and opens promising avenues for nutritional and pharmaceutical applications.

The original study:

Katarzyna Bierla, Marek Siwulski, Laurent Ouerdane, Ryszard Lobinski, Patrycja Mleczek, Miroslaw Mleczek, Identification of new selenium compounds produced by edible mushrooms, Food chem., 496 (2025) 146763. DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2025.146763

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Aline Pereira de Oliveira, Juliana Naozuka, Julio Alberto Landero-Figueroa, Selenium speciation in enriched Pleurotus mushrooms by mixed-mode HPLC-ICP-MS, J. Food Compo. Anal., 142 (2025) 107500. DOI: 10.1016/j.jfca.2025.107500

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