The Fenton reaction is considered to be of great significance in the initial attack of lignocellulose in wood-decaying fungi. Quinone redox cycling is the main way to induce the Fenton reaction in fungi. We show that lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases (LPMOs), through LPMO-catalyzed oxidation of hydroquinone, can efficiently cooperate with glucose dehydrogenase (GDH) to achieve quinone redox cycling. The LPMO/GDH system can enhance Fe 3+ -reducing activity, H 2 O 2 production, and hydroxyl radical generation, resulting in a fueled Fenton reaction. The system-generated hydroxyl radicals exhibited a strong capacity to decolorize different synthetic dyes and degrade lignin. Our results reveal a potentially critical connection between LPMOs and the Fenton reaction, suggesting that LPMOs could be involved in xenobiotic compound and lignin degradation in fungi. This new role of LPMOs may be exploited for application in biorefineries.

In situ H2O2 generation systems are efficient for H2O2-dependent biocatalytic oxidation reactions. Here, we report that lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases (LPMOs), copper-dependent polysaccharide monooxygenases, can efficiently supply H2O2 in situ to dye-decolorizing peroxidases (DyPs) using substrate gallic acid (GA) for chitosan functionalization. The maximum grafting ratio induced by the cascade reaction was significantly higher than that achieved by a reaction with initial exogenous H2O2. The maximum grafting ratio was obtained with 12 g/L GA, 5.6 mg/L DyP, 20–30 mg/L LPMO, and pH 4.5–5.0. UV–vis, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), and nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR) spectroscopy confirmed GA grafting onto chitosan. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) indicated that GA–chitosan conjugates had lower thermal stability and crystallinity than chitosan. The GA–chitosan conjugates had significantly higher antioxidant activity than chitosan. This study supplies a green and high-efficiency approach to achieve an enzymatic cascade reaction for chitosan functionalization and has potential applications in H2O2-dependent biocatalytic oxidation reactions.

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