Influence of Lead on Morphology and Genetic Composition of Pleurotus tuber-regium

Aims: Lead is a heavy metal pollutant that persists in the environment, has no biological function, and potentially toxic to microorganisms. The study examined effect of lead on morphology genetic profile Pleurotus tuber-regium, an edible mushroom.
 Study Design: Experimental design.
 Place Duration Study: Bells University Technology between December 2017 August 2018.
 Methodology: P. tuber-regium sclerotium was planted loamy soils polluted with PbO (50, 80, 100 mg/kg). assessed by recording time for mushroom emergence, fresh fruitbody weight, stipe pileus diameter, % protein, %ash, molecular mushrooms harvested from against control. Extracted DNA amplified ITS1 ITS4 universal primers; amplicons were visualized UV Bio-Rad illuminator.
 Results: had varied influences morphometry. emergence fastest significantly different Fruiting occurred after 13.23±0.76, 5.41±0.88, 9.33±0.75 11.01±1.06 days 0, 50, 80 mg/kg Pb respectively. stipe, diameter at 50 compared range values 8.57±0.75 – 15.21±0.85g, 9.30±0.89 - 14.40±0.99mm, 3.33±0.75 9.60±0.57cm %protein %ash contents higher soils. accumulated but bioaccumulation coefficient low. showed variations amplicon sizes.
 Conclusion: revealed continuous exposure caused morphological changes. It led increased variation amplicons. implication could cause composition tuber-regium.