Abstract: In order to screen the relative expression of cat1 gene during low temperature stress in Volvariella volvacea for getting a better understanding of its autolysis.The sequence of cat1 gene and its relative expression in mycelia of two Volvariella volvacea strains differing in cold tolerance,V23( cold-sensitive) and VH3( cold-tolerant),being exposed to low temperature stress were analyzed.Results showed that cat1 gene included 2274 bp open reading frame and consisted of 757 amino acid residues. Sequence alignment analysis indicated that Cat1 from Volvariella volvacea was similar with the homologous sequence from Coprinopsis cinerea,Postia placenta,Agaricus bisporus,Coniophora puteana or Stereum hirsutum.Cat1 from Volvariella volvacea was conservative with a catalase functional domain. The real time-PCR analysis showed that the relative expression of cat1 gene decreased both in V23 and VH3 during low temperature process.However,the relative expression of cat1 gene in VH3 was higher than that in V23 under the same low temperature treatment.All these results indicated that the less decline of cat1 gene may be associated with the better adaptation of VH3 to low temperature stress,which would help to solve the problem of autolysis in Volvariella volvacea.