Scanning electron micrograph of wood decayed by the white rot fungus Punctularia strigoso-zonata A. JUSTO AND D. FLOUDAS
An end to coal
Species: 31 species of wood-decaying fungi
Genome size: Variable
Interesting fact: A large-scale comparison of fungi that cause wood decay identified the rise of white rot fungus as the potential driving force behind the end of the 60-million year phase of coal deposition in the Carboniferous period. Molecular clock analyses revealed that a species of white rot fungi with enzymes capable of breaking down lignin first evolved around 300 million years ago. Before this, no decay mechanism existed to degrade lignin and destroy plant walls, leaving them to ultimately be buried and converted to coal.
D. Floudas et al., “Lignin decomposition reconstructed from 31 fungal genomes,” Science, 336: 1715-1719, 2012.
Biofuel model Species: Foxtail millet, Setaria italic Genome size: 423 million ...
