Requirement for a Growth Substrate During Lignin Decomposition by Two Wood-Rotting Fungi

Kirk, T. Kent; Connors, W. J.; Zeikus, J. G.

doi:10.1128/aem.32.1.192-194.1976

Cited by 262 publications

(61 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…S5). These results are consistent with the observation that carbohydrate additions often increase the lignin degrading activity of fungi in axenic culture (Kirk et al 1976, Ander and Eriksson 1977, Drew and Kadam 1979, Reddy 1984 and that organic matter decay is restricted by the availability of labile C to prime decomposer activity (Fontaine et al 2003). Low abundances of lignin guilds on the low cellulose litter may account for the low amounts of lignin lost from this litter type during decay (Fig.…”

Section: Hypothesis 1: Cellulose-community Interactionssupporting

confidence: 88%

Litter chemistry influences decomposition through activity of specific microbial functional guilds

Bhatnagar

Peay

Treseder

2018

Ecological Monographs

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Niche differentiation among species is a key mechanism by which biodiversity may be linked to ecosystem function. We tested a set of widely invoked hypotheses about the extent of niche differentiation in one of the most diverse communities on Earth, decomposer microorganisms, by measuring their response to changes in three abundant litter resources: lignin, cellulose, and nitrogen (N). To do this, we used the model system Arabidopsis thaliana to manipulate lignin, cellulose, and N availability and then used high‐throughput sequencing to measure the response of microbial communities during decay. Resequencing the decomposer communities after incubation of decomposed litter with pure substrates showed that groups of species had unique substrate use profiles, such that species organized into functional “guilds” of decomposers that were associated with individual litter chemicals. Low concentrations of lignin, cellulose, or N in the litter caused unique shifts in decomposer community composition after 1 yr of decay. Low cellulose plants had low levels of fungi in all decomposer guilds, low lignin plants had high levels of fungi in all decomposer guilds, and low N plants had low levels of fungi in decomposer guilds associated with sucrose and lignin. The relative abundance of decomposer guilds correlated with the total loss of individual litter chemicals during litter decay in the field. In addition, N fertilization shifted decomposer communities during both the early and later stages of decay to those dominated by decomposers in the cellulose guild. Our results contrast the assumption that major carbon (C) and N degradation mechanisms are uniform across whole decomposer communities and instead suggest that decomposition arises from complementarity among groups of metabolically distinct taxa.

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Section: Hypothesis 1: Cellulose-community Interactionssupporting

confidence: 88%

Litter chemistry influences decomposition through activity of specific microbial functional guilds

Bhatnagar

Peay

Treseder

2018

Ecological Monographs

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“…There appears to be a basic difference between the microbial degradation of lignified plant material in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. In terrestrial environments fungi are apparently the major decomposers of lignocellulosic materials (Kirk et al 1977;Pugh 1974;Witkamp and Ausmus 1976), in aquatic environments bacteria appear to predominate in the degradation of lignocellulosic detritus. In our two marine systems, the salt marsh and the mangrove swamp, biodegradation of both the lignin and polysaccharide components was almost exclusively bacterial.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Very little is known about microbial growth efficiencies on these components. The fungus Phanerochaete chrysosporium, the most prolific degrader of lignified substrates yet isolated, mineralizes the lignin component to carbon dioxide as a secondary metabolic process without incorporation of lignin-derived carbon into fungal biomass (Kirk et al 1975). However, other fungi and bacteria have been reported to use both components of lignocellulose as growth substrates (see Crawford 198 1).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These results suggest that a significant carbon and energy flow from S. alternijlora detritus to the aquatic food web occurs via a bacterial link, and thus this carbon and energy is available only to bacteriovorous animals. The observed dominance of bacteria in the degradation of S. alterniflora lignocellulose in salt marsh sediments is in direct contrast to the fungal dominance of lignocellulose degradation in terrestrial ecosystems (Kirk et al 1977;Pugh 1974;Witkamp and Ausmus 1976). We here more thoroughly examine the importance of bacteria to the degradation of lignocellulosic detritus in salt marsh sediments and expand the study to include the investigation of the procaryotic and eucaryotic contributions to the degradation of lignocellulosic detritus in a mangrove swamp, the Okefenokee Swamp, and the Big Cypress Swamp.…”

mentioning

confidence: 95%

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Biogeochemical cycling of lignocellulosic carbon in marine and freshwater ecosystems: Relative contributions of procaryotes and eucaryotes1

Benner

Moran

Hodson

1986

Limnology & Oceanography

181

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The relative contributions of procaryotes and eucaryotes to the degradation of the lignin and polysaccharide components of lignocellulosic detritus in two marine and two freshwater wetland ecosystems were determined. Two independent methods-physical separation of bacteria from fungi and other eucaryotes by size fractionation, and antibiotic treatments-were used to estimate procaryotic and eucaryotic contributions to the degradation of [14C-lignin]lignocelluloses and [14C-polysaccharidellignocelluloses in samples of water and decaying plant material from each environment. Both methods yielded similar results; bacteria were the predominant degraders of lignocellulose in each of the aquatic ecosystems. Fungi and other eucaryotes contributed only minimally to the overall degradation of lignocellulose in both marine ecosystems and in the Okefenokee Swamp but did contribute significantly to the degradation of lignocellulose in the Big Cypress Swamp. These results indicate a basic difference between the microbial degradation of Iignocellulosic material in terrestrial and aquatic environments. Fungi have long been considered the predominant degraders of lignocellulose in terrestrial systems; our results indicate that in aquatic systems bacteria are the predominant degraders of lignocellulose.

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“…Moreover, the metabolic costs of decomposition may be higher than the gains. Studies of decomposition by mycorrhizal fungi point towards oxidative mechanisms (Rineau et al, 2012;B€ odeker et al, 2014), and organic matter oxidation (best studied in the context of lignin degradation) has been described as a co-metabolic process that requires access to other C sources, such as glucose or cellulose (Kirk et al, 1976). Hofrichter et al (1999) demonstrated oxidation of synthetic lignin all the way to CO 2 in a cell-free in vitro system.…”

Section: What Do Mycorrhizal Fungi Gain From Decomposition?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Ectomycorrhizal fungi – potential organic matter decomposers, yet not saprotrophs

2014

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I.II.III.IV.V.References Summary Although hypothesized for many years, the involvement of ectomycorrhizal fungi in decomposition of soil organic matter remains controversial and has not yet been fully acknowledged as an important factor in the regulation of soil carbon (C) storage. Here, we review recent findings, which support the view that some ectomycorrhizal fungi have the capacity to oxidize organic matter, either by ‘brown‐rot’ Fenton chemistry or using ‘white‐rot’ peroxidases. We propose that ectomycorrhizal fungi benefit from organic matter decomposition primarily through increased nitrogen mobilization rather than through release of metabolic C and question the view that ectomycorrhizal fungi may act as facultative saprotrophs. Finally, we discuss how mycorrhizal decomposition may influence organic matter storage in soils and mediate responses of ecosystem C sequestration to environmental changes.

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Requirement for a Growth Substrate During Lignin Decomposition by Two Wood-Rotting Fungi

Abstract: Decomposition of "4C-labeled lignin to 14CO2 by the lignin-decomposing fungi Phanerochaete chrysosporium and Coriolus versicolor required a growth substrate such as cellulose or glucose. Growth with lignin as sole carbon addition to an otherwise complete medium was negligible.

Cited by 262 publications

References 6 publications

Litter chemistry influences decomposition through activity of specific microbial functional guilds

Litter chemistry influences decomposition through activity of specific microbial functional guilds

Biogeochemical cycling of lignocellulosic carbon in marine and freshwater ecosystems: Relative contributions of procaryotes and eucaryotes1

Ectomycorrhizal fungi – potential organic matter decomposers, yet not saprotrophs

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