Our results show that all of the brown rot fungi tested produce oxalic acid in liquid as well as in semisolid cultures. Gloeophyllum trabeum, which accumulates the lowest amount of oxalic acid during decay of pine holocellulose, showed the highest polysaccharide-depolymerizing activity. Semisolid cultures inoculated with this fungus rapidly converted C-labeled oxalic acid to CO(2) during cellul...

The kinetics of cotton cellulose depolymerization by the brown rot fungus Postia placenta and the white rot fungus Phanerochaete chrysosporium were investigated with solid-state cultures. The degree of polymerization (DP; the average number of glucosyl residues per cellulose molecule) of cellulose removed from soil-block cultures during degradation by P. placenta was first determined viscosimet...

Thermal modification has been developed for an industrial method to increase the biological durability and dimensional stability of wood. In this study the effects of thermal modification on resistance against softand brown-rot fungi of sapwood and heartwood of Scots pine and Norway spruce were investigated using laboratory test methods. Natural durability against soft-rot microfungi was determ...

Homobasidiomycetes include the majority of wood-decaying fungi. Two basic forms of wood decay are known in homobasidiomycetes: white rot, in which lignin and cellulose are degraded, and brown rot, in which lignin is not appreciably degraded. An apparent correlation has been noted between production of a brown rot, decay of conifer substrates, and possession of a bipolar mating system (which has...

Rubber wood (Hevea brasiliensis) was esterfied with phenylisothiocyanate, and dimensional stability, decay resistance, and photo stability of the modified wood was assessed. The chemically modified wood was characterized by FTIR and CP/MAS C NMR spectroscopy. Unmodified and modified samples were exposed to a brown rot (Polyporus meliae) and a white rot (Coriolus versicolor) fungus for 12 weeks....

Brown-rot fungi, e.g. the dryrot fungus (Serpula lacrymans), are the most harmful microorganisms in wood in service in Finland and in temperate regions. Brownrot fungi cause wood decay primarly by attacking the carbohydrates of the cell walls, leaving lignin essentially undigested. At the initial stage of the decay, the brown-rot fungi seem to operate by a mechanism which cause extensive change...

Correlating plant litter decay rates with initial tissue traits (e.g. C, N contents) is common practice, but in woody litter, predictive relationships are often weak. Variability in predicting wood decomposition is partially due to territorial competition among fungal decomposers that, in turn, have a range of nutritional strategies (rot types) and consequences on residues. Given this biotic in...

Brown-rot decay results in rapid reduction in degree of polymerization of holocellulose, with concomitant strength loss without removing lignin. Development of new methods of wood protection will require focusing on early events in the sequence of fungal attack during colonization. Pit membranes (sapwood) of wood cell walls represent a readily available source of nonlignified carbohydrate, i.e....

This research aims at developing a biorefinery platform to convert lignocellulosic corn fiber into fermentable sugars at a moderate temperature (37 °C) with minimal use of chemicals. White-rot (Phanerochaete chrysosporium), brown-rot (Gloeophyllum trabeum), and soft-rot (Trichoderma reesei) fungi were used for in situ enzyme production to hydrolyze cellulosic and hemicellulosic components of co...

This paper presents the results from an assessment of the application of a new molecular analytical procedure, CTMAH thermochemolysis, to study the chemical modi®cation of lignin by white-rot and brown-rot fungi. This technique di€ers from other molecular chemolysis procedures (e.g. TMAH thermochemolysis and CuO alkaline oxidation) as it enables one to determine the amount of hydroxylated aroma...