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Production of hydrogen peroxide by wood-rotting fungi in wood and its correlation with weight loss, depolymerization, and pH changes

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Abstract

  1. 1.

    Wood-decay fungi produced H2O2 solely from native substrates in wood. Most basidiomycetes which cause brown-rot of wood produced H2O2 more rapidly on loblolly pine than sweetgum and they produced H2O2 more quickly than white-rot fungi which varied considerably among themselves in formation of the oxidant.

  2. 2.

    Most brown-rot fungi depolymerized wood cellulose extensively at low weight losses and lowered the pH of wood. At these weight losses, white-rot fungi raised the degree of polymerization or depolymerized cellulose slightly and either raised pH of wood or lowered it but a little.

  3. 3.

    Ability to produce H2O2 from glucose in culture was generally correlated well with ability to produce H2O2 in wood for brown-rot fungi. However, exceptions for these and some white-rot fungi suggest that H2O2 may originate from sources other than glucose in wood.

  4. 4.

    Brown-rot fungi produced sufficient H2O2 in 3 days, and the acidic conditions optimal for cellulolysis by an H2O2-Fe++ system, to account for the depolymerization observed in this study. Results suggest that these fungi may employ an H2O2-Fe++ mechanism to decompose wood cellulose or render it more susceptible to attack by conventional cellulases.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Forest Service, Forestry Sciences Laboratory, Southeastern Forest Experiment Station USDA, 27709, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina

    Jerome W. Koenigs

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  1. Jerome W. Koenigs
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Koenigs, J.W. Production of hydrogen peroxide by wood-rotting fungi in wood and its correlation with weight loss, depolymerization, and pH changes. Arch. Microbiol. 99, 129–145 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00696229

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00696229

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