Metabolic activities and ultrastructure imaging at late-stage of wood decomposition in interactive brown rot - white rot fungal combinations

Basidiomycota brown rot fungus ( Fomitopsis pinicola ) and two white fungi Phlebia radiata , Trichaptum abietinum were cultivated on thin slices of spruce wood individually in interspecies combinations. Within 12 months, F. substantially decomposed observed as mass loss, also three-species However, through hyphal interactions negatively affected the brown-rot indicative iron reduction capacity . Decay-signature gene expression mycelial interaction zones indicated suppression mechanism but stimulation enzymatic white-rot lignin attack by P. Wood ultrastructure imaging showed dominance fungal combinations, whereas destructive was evident with alone. Our results confirm dynamic pattern enzyme production transition from to decomposition metabolism during late stage decay after one year interspecific interactions.