Skip to main content
SLU publication database (SLUpub)
Research article - Peer-reviewed, 2017

Interactions affect hyphal growth and enzyme profiles in combinations of coniferous wood-decaying fungi of Agaricomycetes

Mali, Tuulia; Kuuskeri, Jaana; Shah, Firoz; Lundell, Taina Kristina

Abstract

Fomitopsis pinicola is a species of Polyporales frequently encountered in Nordic temperate and boreal forests. In nature, the fungus causes destructive brown rot in wood, colonizing tree trunks often occupied by other Basidiomycota species. We mimicked these species-species interactions by introducing F. pinicola to five white rot species, all common saprotrophs of Norway spruce. Hyphal interactions and mycelial growth in various combinations were recorded, while activities of lignocellulose-acting CAZymes and oxidoreductases were followed in co-cultures on two different carbon-source media. Of the species, Phlebia radiata and Trichaptum abietinum were the strongest producers of lignin-modifying oxidoreductases (laccase, manganese peroxidase) when evaluated alone, as well as in co-cultures, on the two different growth media (low-nitrogen liquid medium containing ground coniferous wood, and malt extract broth). F. pinicola was an outstanding producer of oxalic acid (up to 61 mM), whereas presence of P. radiata prevented acidification of the growth environment in the liquid malt-extract cultures. When enzyme profiles of the species combinations were clustered, time-dependent changes were observed on wood-supplemented medium during the eight weeks of growth. End-point acidity and production of mycelium, oxalic acid and oxidoreductase activities, in turn clustered the fungal combinations into three distinct functional groups, determined by the presence of F. pinicola and P. radiata, by principal component analysis. Our findings indicate that combinations of wood-decay fungi have dramatic dynamic effects on the production of lignocellulose-active enzymes, which may lead to divergent degradative processes of dead wood and forest litter.

Keywords

414 Agricultural biotechnology, 1183 Plant biology, microbiology, virology, Mycology, Basidiomycota , Wood-inhabiting fungi, 1181 Ecology, evolutionary biology, Fungal phylogeny, Forest fungi, Wood decay fungi, Fungal interactions, 1182 Biochemistry, cell and molecular biology, Enzyme activities, Extracellular metabolites

Published in

PLoS ONE
2017, Volume: 12, number: 9, article number: e0185171
Publisher: PUBLIC LIBRARY OF SCIENCE

    UKÄ Subject classification

    Forest Science

    Publication identifier

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0185171

    Permanent link to this page (URI)

    https://res.slu.se/id/publ/105901