PIXABAY, VIELEINERHUELLEFungi that digest wood are typically categorized as white rots, which degrade both lignin and cellulose, or brown rots, which only have enzymes that act on cellulose. But two newly sequenced species are capable of digesting lignin, even though they lack the enzymes typically found in white rots, according to a study published this week (June 23) in PNAS.
The species, Botryobasidium botryosum and Jaapia argillacea, appeared to be white-rot fungi based on the microscopic patterns they created in decomposing wood. “But at the molecular level, we found that the key enzymes considered markers of white-rot fungi were missing,” said Igor Grigoriev of the US Department of Energy (DOE) Joint Genome Institute (JGI) in Walnut Creek, California, who led the work.
The results suggest “a continuum rather than a dichotomy between the white-rot and brown-rot modes of wood decay,” and highlight the need for a more nuanced categorization of rot types, according to the authors. Identifying the decay mechanisms in these new species could also have practical applications in the production of cellulosic biofuels, said Grigoriev.
“There was a lot of suspicion within the ...
