Several inbred strains of mice were inoculated with Serpula (Treponema) hyodysenteriae B204 to determine susceptibility to infection. Challenge doses of 10(7) or 10(8) spirochetes induced cecal lesions in C3H/HeJ mice and other C3H strains of mice. However, more than a 100-fold difference existed between the dose required to induce lesions in 50% of the infected C3H/HeJ mice (8.3 x 10(7)) and t...

The dry rot fungus Serpula lacrymans (Basidiomycota) is the most damaging destroyer of wood construction materials in temperate regions. While being a widespread aggressive indoor biodeterioration agent, it is only found in a few natural environments. The geographical source of spread and colonization by this fungus in human environments is thus somewhat of an enigma. Employing genetic markers ...

The feasibility of short-read sequencing for genomic analysis was demonstrated for Fibroporia radiculosa, a copper-tolerant fungus that causes brown rot decay of wood. The effect of read quality on genomic assembly was assessed by filtering Illumina GAIIx reads from a single run of a paired-end library (75-nucleotide read length and 300-bp fragment size) at three different stringency levels and...

Microbial growth in buildings may evoke respiratory and other symptoms in the occupants and promote decay of construction materials. The decay in wood is usually caused by dry-rot fungus, leading to the decomposition of cellulose and lignin. There are also some mold fungi and bacteria that can use wood as a nutrient. In this study, two trained dogs were used to detect microbial growth present i...

The voluntary withdrawal of chromated copper arsenate (CCA)-treated wood from most residential applications has increased the use of non-arsenical copper-based organic wood preservatives. Because the arsenic component of CCA controlled coppertolerant fungi, scientists have renewed interest in and concern about the decay capacity in the important copper-tolerant group of brown-rot fungi. We have...

Extracellular polygalacturonase (PG) production was estimated in vitro, using liquid cultures of three species of brown-rot decay fungi (Postia placenta, Gloeophyllum trabeum and Serpula incrassata), by cup-plate assay, assay of reducing sugars, and decrease in viscosity. Although all three experimental assays demonstrated that PG was induced by pectin in all three fungi, decrease in viscosity ...

Three extracellular cellulose-depolymerizing enzymes from cotton undergoing decay by the brown rot fungus Meruliporia (Serpula) incrassata were isolated by anion-exchange and hydrophobic interaction chromatographies. Depolymerization was detected by analyzing the changes in the molecular size distribution of cotton cellulose by high-performance size-exclusion chromatography. The average degree ...

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight intact cell mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF ICMS) is coming of age for the identification and characterization of fungi. The procedure has been used extensively with bacteria. UV-absorbing matrices function as energy mediators that transfer the absorbed photoenergy from an irradiation source to the surrounding sample molecules, resulting i...

The role of ions in the fungal decay process of lignocellulose biomaterials, and more broadly fungal metabolism, has implications for diverse research disciplines ranging from plant pathology and forest ecology, to carbon sequestration. Despite the importance of ions in fungal decay mechanisms, the spatial distribution and quantification of ions in lignocellulosic cell walls and fungal hyphae d...