Decomposition of Cellulose 211 Enzyme Catalyzed Decomposition
Cellulose is the main polymeric component of the plant cell wall and is the most abundant polysaccharide on earth. The chemical composition is simple it consists of D-glucose residues linked by 6-1,4-glycosidic bonds to form linear polymeric chains of over 10,000 glucose residues. Cellulose contains both highly crystalline regions where individual chains are linked to each other, and less-ordered amorphous regions (Hon, 1994). Although chemically simple, the extensive intermolecular bonding...
Non Nutritional Environmental Variables
As well as carbon and nitrogen nutrition, discussed above, many more environmental variables affect fruit body initiation and development (reviewed by Jennings, 1995 Moore, 1998a Scrase and Elliott, 1998 Kues and Liu, 2000). Such is the bulk of the literature that we can do little more here than list the major observations. As the above discussions of metabolism imply, fruit body development requires oxidative metabolism (glycolysis and TCA cycle activity are often amplified) and good aeration...
Modes of Dispersal
As a habitat dead wood is characterized by (i) the limited duration of each habitat patch (e.g. a fallen trunk) and (ii) an unpredictable and heterogeneous distribution of habitat patches in space and time, influenced by twigs and branches falling, natural tree mortality factors (e.g. storms, drought) and in recent centuries by forest management cycles and landscape fragmentation. To persist in this highly dynamic context wood decay fungi need to be able to spread between sinking and rising...
Direct Positive Effects Of Basidiomycota On Invertebrates Fruit Bodies And Mycelia As Food And Habitat
Mycelia are highly nutritious (Swift and Boddy, 1984 see below). Not surprisingly, therefore, many invertebrates use fungi as a food source, either grazing directly on mycelia or fruit bodies, or indirectly by ingesting mycelium within decomposing litter (Maraun et al., 2003). Mycophagy is most prevalent amongst members of the phylum Arthropoda, although there are also many examples within the Mollusca, Enchytraeidae, Annelida, Collembola and Nematoda. For example, nematodes in the genus...
List of Contributors
Petr Baldrian, Laboratory of Biochemistry of Wood-Rotting Fungi, Institute of Microbiology of the ASCR, v. v. i. Videnska 1083,14220 Praha 4, Czech Republic Dan Bebber, Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3RB, England, UK Johanna Boberg, Department of Forest Mycology and Pathology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 7026, SE-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden Lynne Boddy, Cardiff School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Biomedical Building,...
Distribution and Function of Litter Basidiomycetes in Coniferous Forests
Fungal Succession and Interactions in Forest Litter A Molecular 2.2 The Cellulose Decomposition Phase 2.3 Mycorrhizal Fungi Take over at Late Decomposition Stages Nitrogen and Carbon Cycling by Litter Saprotrophs 3.1 Nitrogen Import During Early Decomposition Stages 3.2 Nitrogen Export During Late Saprotrophic Decomposition 3.3 Lignin Decomposition by Saprotrophs 3.4 Very Late Decomposition Stages Humus and Mycorrhizal Fungi Abstract The spatio-temporal distribution of basidiomycetes colonising...
Temperature and Growth
Temperature is a major determinant of ecological niche (Hudson, 1986 Magan, 1997). It exerts an influence on fungi largely via its effects on enzyme-catalysed reactions. The overall response of a fungus to different temperatures represents the combined effect of numerous different chemical reactions, each of which exhibits its own characteristic relationship to temperature (Rayner and Boddy, 1988). The growth responses of fungi to temperature are variable, with many wood-rotting Basidiomycota...
Man As A Vector
There is definite evidence for man vectoring fungi over long distances. One well-established case is the movement of European Armillaria species to South Africa (Coetzee et al., 2001). Dead and dying oak (Quercus) and other woody ornamental trees and shrubs showing signs and symptoms of Armillaria root rot were identified in the Company Gardens, Cape Town, South Africa, which were established in the mid-1600s. Molecular markers and pairing tests indicated that the infection centre consisted of...
Species Index
Aegerita candida (anamorph of Bulbillomyces farinosus), 305 Aegerita tortuosa (anamorph of Subulicystidium longisporum), 305 Agaricus, 91, 147, 166, 283, 337 Agaricus arvensis, 33 Agaricus bisporus, 33, 36, 63, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 77, 78, 81, 99, 100, 147, 153, 159, 166 Agaricus campestris, 284 Agrocybe, 33, 161 Agrocybe praecox, 8, 165 Amanita, 34 Amylocystis lapponica, 246, 270 Amylostereum, 115 Amylostereum areolatum, 115, 122, 157, 167, 177, 179 Amylostereum chailletii, 115, 122, 157, 169,...
Mutualistic Interactions
Litter- and wood-degrading basidiomycetes have developed strategies for suboptimal concentrations of nitrogen in their substrates. These strategies include recycling of nitrogen from senescent mycelium, reallocation from intracellular stored proteins and uptake and translocation of nitrogen from soil to wood litter (Cowling and Merrill, 1966 Watkinson et al., 2001 Lindahl and Finlay, 2005). As mentioned in the previous section, it has been proposed that lysis of bacteria may be another strategy...
Aquatic Basidiomycetes And Their Taxonomic Relationship
Aquatic Basidiomycota are a minority group when compared with the as-comycetes, anamorphic fungi and Chromista (Table 2). Taxonomically they are unrelated, belonging to such diverse groups as the Agaricomycotina, Uredino-myctoina and Ustilaginomycotina (Table 1). Filamentous Agaricomycotina are represented by the orders Agaricales, Atheliales, Cantharellales, Polyporales, Russulales and Tremellales. Basidiomycete yeasts are found in four lineages in the Uredinomycotina (Agaricostilbomycetes,...
References
Bioactive sesquiterpenes produced by fungi Are they useful for humans as well Current Medical Chemistry, 8, 583-606. Ander, P. and Eriksson, P.-E. (1984). Methanol formation during lignin degradation by Phanerochaete chrysosporium. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, 21, 96-102. Arora, A., Nain, L. and Gupta, J.K. (2005). Solid-state fermentation of wood residues by Streptomyces griseus B1, a soil isolate, and solubilization of lignins. World Journal of Microbiology...
Interactions between Saprotrophic Basidiomycetes and Bacteria
Wietse de Boer and Annemieke van der Wal 1.1 Wood-Inhabiting Bacteria 144 1.2 Competitive and Antagonistic Interactions 144 1.3 Predation, Parasitism and Disease 146 1.4 Mutualistic Interactions 147 1.6 Specific Associations 150 1.7 Practical Applications 150 2. Conclusions and Perspectives 151 References 151 Bacteria play an important role in the functioning of lignocellulose-degrading basidiomycetes. They can have a negative effect on fungal growth and activity as they are potential...
The Buller Phenomenon
Heterokaryotic basidiomycete mycelia can deliver one nucleus to unmated homokaryons in its vicinity. This ability has been called the 'Buller phenomenon' Quintanilha, 1937 . Potentially, the Buller phenomenon might lead to complicated networks of mating in a resource. In some basidiomycete species, although successfully mated, homokaryotic sectors can arise within a heterokaryotic mycelium. If such sectors come in contact with another heterokaryon, a remating may occur in line with the Buller...
Effects of Soil Type on Wood Decay Fungi
As with plant community composition, the occurrence of terrestrial fungi is strongly influenced by soil type and chemistry Tyler, 1985 Arnolds et al., 1994 , but little is known of the effects on wood-inhabiting fungi. It is obvious that non-unit-restricted fungi, e.g. cord-formers, are directly influenced by the soil and litter environment through which they grow in search of new wood resources e.g. Abdalla and Boddy, 1996 Donnelly and Boddy, 1998 . Also, for Figure 1 Proportion of wood decay...
Occurrence And Distribution Of Aquatic Basidiomycetes
Freshwater basidiomycetes have been isolated from foam samples Jones and Sloof, 1966 and from senescent decaying leaf litter Nawawi et al., 1977a, 1977b Marvanova and Stalpers, 1987 Nawawi and Kuthubutheen, 1988 , while Stauri-ella aquatica was recovered from test blocks of Dipterocarpus alatus submerged for 9 months in a stream in Khao Yai National Park, Thailand Sivichai and Jones, 2004 . In a study of fungal colonization of senescent palms submerged in a peat swamp at Narathiwat, Thailand,...
Soil Nitrogen and Network Topology in Microcosms
Network topology has been found by mathematical network analysis to be adapted to exploit distant resources, and to survive interactions with other organisms that may delete parts of the network Fricker et al., in press Chapter 1 . Network topology is species-specific in cord-forming wood decay fungi, reflecting short- and long-range foraging strategy, in other words, preference for small or large carbon resources Boddy, 1999 Boddy and Jones, 2007 . In the long-range foraging species P....
Compatible Solutes Tolerance of Water Stress and Translocation of Water
For fungi to grow under solute or matric stress, compatible solutes are needed to enable enzyme systems to function, and basidiomycetes are no exception in this respect Magan, 1997 . The key compatible solutes are the high-molecular weight sugar alcohols polyols mannitol and arabitol, and the low-molecular weight erythritol and glycerol. Glycerol and erythritol are outstanding in this respect and their accumulation is a major determinant of the water relations of xerotolerant and xerophilic...
Decomposition of Lignin
Lignin is a branched polymer of substituted phenylpropane units joined by carbon-carbon and ether linkages. The monolignol precursors p-coumaryl, coniferyl and sinapyl alcohol form p-hydroxyphenyl-, guaiacyl-, and syringyl type units in lignin. The major linkage in lignin, the arylglycerol-p-aryl ether substructure, comprises about half of the total interunit linkages. Lignin of gym-nosperms contains mainly guaiacyl type units with some p-coumaryl units, whereas angiosperm lignin consists of...
