Can White Rot Fungus Revolutionize Environmental Cleanup and Biotech Industries?

[iansmith]

Fungus sequence shows potential for biotechnological and environmental applications | By Cathy Holding



The complete genome sequence of a white rot fungus, reported in the May 2 Nature Biotechnology, reveals an impressive array of enzymes with potential for biotechnological exploitation, according to Diego Martinez and colleagues at the United States Department of Energy (DoE) Joint Genome Institute.

Martinez's team sequenced the 30-MB genome of Phanerochaete chrysosporium strain RP78 by a whole-genome shotgun approach. The genome contains 11,777 protein-coding genes, including secreted oxidases, peroxidases, and hydrolytic enzymes that cooperate in wood decay.

The white rot fungi are the only microbes known to efficiently degrade all the components of wood, including lignin, the most significant aromatic polymer on Earth, according to Dan Cullen, research scientist with the US Department of Agriculture Forest Products Lab and coauthor of the paper. “They're found everywhere, in dead and down trees. Only a handful of organisms are able to degrade lignin, its very recalcitrant to decay, and these fungi are able to do that… so they're believed to be important—pivotal, in fact—to the carbon cycle,” said Cullen.

P.chrysosporium is also used extensively in industry, for instance, for the bleaching of pulp from paper and textiles and the degradation of an array of organo-pollutants, Cullen said. “The DoE's decision to sequence it was based in part on those biotech angles, but they're also very interested in the biomass utilization and some related issues,” he said.

http://www.biomedcentral.com/news/20040505/01

 

[Monique]

I think I should start sequencing some of the stuff that grows in my house living 1,5 m below sealevel, the walls are quite humid..

 

[iansmith]

I was actually thinking that some people migth have to sequence stuff from their fridge

 

[Phobos]

White rot fungus also has potential applications in the environmental field for cleaning up soil contaminated with explosives-related chemicals (e.g., TNT). It's a bit more complicated using it on soil "in situ" as compared to use in some industry's batch reactor, but it's certainly an interested application.