We have shown that diverse fungal systems for lignocellulose degradation share a unifying feature: they use extracellular one-electron chemistry to oxidize target molecules to unstable free radicals, which subsequently undergo oxygenation or decomposition. Although these mechanisms are intended to work on lignocellulose, they are so nonspecific that they also accomplish a wide variety of xenobiotic oxidations.
For example, we find that the wood decay basidiomycete Gloeophyllum trabeum degrades recalcitrant polymers with oxidants that are generated via quinone redox cycling. This fungus produces the metabolite 2,5-dimethoxy-1,4-benzoquinone, reduces it with an intracellular NADH-linked flavoprotein reductase, and releases the resulting hydroquinone into the extracellular medium. The hydroquinone then reacts non-enzymatically with extracellular Fe3+ to generate radical oxidants. Detailed characterization of the reductase and the gene that encodes it is now complete.
Lignin is an abundant and complex plant polymer that may limit litter decomposition, yet lignin is sometimes a minor constituent of soil organic carbon (SOC). Accounting for diversity in soil characteristics might reconcile this apparent contradiction. Tracking decomposition of a lignin/litter mixture and SOC across different North American mineral soils using lab and field incubations, here we show that cumulative lignin decomposition varies 18-fold among soils and is strongly correlated with bulk litter decomposition, but not SOC decomposition. Climate legacy predicts decomposition in the lab, and impacts of nitrogen availability are minor compared with geochemical and microbial properties. Lignin decomposition increases with some metals and fungal taxa, whereas SOC decomposition decreases with metals and is weakly related with fungi. Decoupling of lignin and SOC decomposition and their contrasting biogeochemical drivers indicate that lignin is not necessarily a bottleneck for SOC decomposition and can explain variable contributions of lignin to SOC among ecosystems.
Lignin's role in litter and soil organic carbon (SOC) decomposition remains contentious. Lignin decomposition was traditionally thought to increase during midstage litter decomposition, when cellulose occlusion by lignin began to limit mass loss. Alternatively, lignin decomposition could be greatest in fresh litter as a consequence of co-metabolism, and lignin might decompose faster than bulk SOC. To test these competing hypotheses, we incubated 10 forest soils with C4 grass litter (amended with 13 C-labeled or unlabeled lignin) over 2 yr and measured soil respiration and its isotope composition. Early lignin decomposition was greatest in 5 of 10 soils, consistent with the co-metabolism hypothesis. However, lignin decomposition peaked 6-24 months later in the other five soils, consistent with the substrate-limitation hypothesis; these soils were highly acidic. Rates of lignin, litter, and SOC decomposition tended to converge over time. Cumulative lignin decomposition was never greater than SOC decomposition; lignin decomposition was significantly lower than SOC decomposition in six soils. Net nitrogen mineralization predicted lignin decomposition ratios relative to litter and SOC. Although the onset of lignin decomposition can indeed be rapid, lignin still presents a likely bottleneck in litter and SOC decomposition, meriting a reconsideration of lignin's role in modern decomposition paradigms.
A modern paradigm of soil organic matter proposes that persistent carbon (C) derives primarily from microbial residues interacting with minerals, challenging older ideas that lignin moieties contribute to soil C because of inherent recalcitrance. We proposed that aspects of these old and new paradigms can be partially reconciled by considering interactions between lignin decomposition products and redox-sensitive iron (Fe) minerals. An Fe-rich tropical soil (with C4 litter and either 13C-labeled or unlabeled lignin) was pretreated with different durations of anaerobiosis (0–12 days) and incubated aerobically for 317 days. Only 5.7 ± 0.2% of lignin 13C was mineralized to CO2 versus 51.2 ± 0.4% of litter C. More added lignin-derived C (48.2 ± 0.9%) than bulk litter-derived C (30.6 ± 0.7%) was retained in mineral-associated organic matter (MAOM; density >1.8 g cm–3), and 12.2 ± 0.3% of lignin-derived C vs 6.4 ± 0.1% of litter C accrued in clay-sized (
Peroxidases are considered essential agents of lignin degradation by white-rot basidiomycetes. However, low-molecular-weight oxidants likely have a primary role in lignin breakdown because many of these fungi delignify wood before its porosity has sufficiently increased for enzymes to infiltrate. It has been proposed that lignin peroxidases (LPs, EC 1.11.1.14) fulfill this role by oxidizing the secreted fungal metabolite veratryl alcohol (VA) to its aryl cation radical (VA), releasing it to act as a one-electron lignin oxidant within woody plant cell walls. Here, we attached the fluorescent oxidant sensor BODIPY 581/591 throughout beads with a nominal porosity of 6 kDa and assessed whether peroxidase-generated aryl cation radical systems could oxidize the beads. As positive control, we used the 1,2,4,5-tetramethoxybenzene (TMB) cation radical, generated from TMB by horseradish peroxidase. This control oxidized the beads to depths that increased with the amount of oxidant supplied, ultimately resulting in completely oxidized beads. A reaction-diffusion computer model yielded oxidation profiles that were within the 95% confidence intervals for the data. By contrast, bead oxidation caused by VA and the LPA isozyme of was confined to a shallow shell of LP-accessible volume at the bead surface, regardless of how much oxidant was supplied. This finding contrasted with the modeling results, which showed that if the LP/VA system were to release VA, it would oxidize the bead interiors. We conclude that LPA releases insignificant quantities of VA and that a different mechanism produces small ligninolytic oxidants during white rot.
Carbon dioxide isotope (δ C value) measurements enable quantification of the sources of soil microbial respiration, thus informing ecosystem C dynamics. Tunable diode lasers (TDLs) can precisely measure CO isotopes at low cost and high throughput, but are seldom used for small samples (≤5 mL). We developed a TDL method for CO mole fraction ([CO ]) and δ C analysis of soil microcosms. Peaks in infrared absorbance following constant volume sample injection to a carrier were used to independently measure [ CO ] and [ CO ] for subsequent calculation of δ C values. Using parallel soil incubations receiving differing C substrates, we partitioned respiration from three sources using mixing models: native soil organic matter (SOM), added litter, and synthetic lignin containing a C label at C of the propyl side chain. Once-daily TDL calibration enabled accurate quantification of δ C values and [CO ] compared with isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS), with long-term external precision of 0.17 and 0.31‰ for 5 and 1 mL samples, respectively, and linear response between 400 and 5000 μmol mol CO . Production of CO from native soil C, added litter, and lignin C varied over four orders of magnitude. Multiple-pool first-order decay models fitted to data (R > 0.98) indicated substantially slower turnover for lignin C (17 years) than for the dominant pool of litter (1.3 years) and primed soil C (3.9 years). Our TDL method provides a flexible, precise, and high-throughput (60 samples h ) alternative to IRMS for small samples. This enables the use of C isotopes in increasingly sophisticated experiments to test biogeochemical controversies, such as the fate of lignins in soil.
Wood-degrading brown rot fungi are essential recyclers of plant biomass in forest ecosystems. Their efficient cellulolytic systems, which have potential biotechnological applications, apparently depend on a combination of two mechanisms: lignocellulose oxidation (LOX) by reactive oxygen species (ROS) and polysaccharide hydrolysis by a limited set of glycoside hydrolases (GHs). Given that ROS are strongly oxidizing and nonselective, these two steps are likely segregated. A common hypothesis has been that brown rot fungi use a concentration gradient of chelated metal ions to confine ROS generation inside wood cell walls before enzymes can infiltrate. We examined an alternative: that LOX components involved in ROS production are differentially expressed by brown rot fungi ahead of GH components. We used spatial mapping to resolve a temporal sequence in Postia placenta, sectioning thin wood wafers colonized directionally. Among sections, we measured gene expression by whole-transcriptome shotgun sequencing (RNA-seq) and assayed relevant enzyme activities. We found a marked pattern of LOX up-regulation in a narrow (5-mm, 48-h) zone at the hyphal front, which included many genes likely involved in ROS generation. Up-regulation of GH5 endoglucanases and many other GHs clearly occurred later, behind the hyphal front, with the notable exceptions of two likely expansins and a GH28 pectinase. Our results support a staggered mechanism for brown rot that is controlled by differential expression rather than microenvironmental gradients. This mechanism likely results in an oxidative pretreatment of lignocellulose, possibly facilitated by expansin- and pectinase-assisted cell wall swelling, before cellulases and hemicellulases are deployed for polysaccharide depolymerization.
Colonization of wood blocks by brown and white rot fungi rapidly resulted in detectable wood oxidation, as shown by a reduced phloroglucinol response, a loss of autofluorescence, and acridine orange (AO) staining. This last approach is shown to provide a novel method for identifying wood oxidation. When lignin was mildly oxidized, the association between AO and lignin was reduced such that stained wood sections emitted less green light during fluorescence microscopy. This change was detectable after less than a week, an interval that past work has shown to be too short for significant delignification of wood. Although fungal hyphae were observed in only a few wood lumina, oxidation was widespread, appearing relatively uniform over regions several hundred micrometers from the hyphae. This observation suggests that both classes of fungi release low molecular weight mild oxidants during the first few days of colonization.
The importance of lignin as a recalcitrant constituent of soil organic matter (SOM) remains contested. Associations with iron (Fe) oxides have been proposed to specifically protect lignin from decomposition, but impacts of Fe-lignin interactions on mineralization rates remain unclear. Oxygen (O2) fluctuations characteristic of humid tropical soils drive reductive Fe dissolution and precipitation, facilitating multiple types of Fe-lignin interactions that could variably decompose or protect lignin. We tested impacts of Fe addition on 13C methoxyl-labeled lignin mineralization in soils that were exposed to static or fluctuating O2. Iron addition suppressed lignin mineralization to 21% of controls, regardless of O2 availability. However, Fe addition had no effect on soil CO2 production, implying that Fe oxides specifically protected lignin methoxyls but not bulk SOM. Iron oxide-lignin interactions represent a specific mechanism for lignin stabilization, linking SOM biochemical composition to turnover via geochemistry.
Breeding new strains with improved traits is a long-standing goal of mushroom breeders that can be expedited by marker-assisted selection (MAS). We constructed a genetic linkage map of Pleurotus eryngii based on segregation analysis of markers in postmeiotic monokaryons from KNR2312. In total, 256 loci comprising 226 simple sequence-repeat (SSR) markers, 2 mating-type factors, and 28 insertion/deletion (InDel) markers were mapped. The map consisted of 12 linkage groups (LGs) spanning 1047.8cM, with an average interval length of 4.09cM. Four independent populations (Pd3, Pd8, Pd14, and Pd15) derived from crossing between four monokaryons from KNR2532 as a tester strain and 98 monokaryons from KNR2312 were used to characterize quantitative trait loci (QTL) for nine traits such as yield, quality, cap color, and earliness. Using composite interval mapping (CIM), 71 QTLs explaining between 5.82% and 33.17% of the phenotypic variations were identified. Clusters of more than five QTLs for various traits were identified in three genomic regions, on LGs 1, 7 and 9. Regardless of the population, 6 of the 9 traits studied and 18 of the 71 QTLs found in this study were identified in the largest cluster, LG1, in the range from 65.4 to 110.4cM. The candidate genes for yield encoding transcription factor, signal transduction, mycelial growth and hydrolase are suggested by using manual and computational analysis of genome sequence corresponding to QTL region with the highest likelihood odds (LOD) for yield. The genetic map and the QTLs established in this study will help breeders and geneticists to develop selection markers for agronomically important characteristics of mushrooms and to identify the corresponding genes.
Since uncertainty remains about how white rot fungi oxidize and degrade lignin in wood, it would be useful to monitor changes in fungal gene expression during the onset of ligninolysis on a natural substrate. We grew Phanerochaete chrysosporium on solid spruce wood and included oxidant-sensing beads bearing the fluorometric dye BODIPY 581/591 in the cultures. Confocal fluorescence microscopy of the beads showed that extracellular oxidation commenced 2 to 3 days after inoculation, coincident with cessation of fungal growth. Whole transcriptome shotgun sequencing (RNA-seq) analyses based on the v.2.2 P. chrysosporium genome identified 356 genes whose transcripts accumulated to relatively high levels at 96 h and were at least four times the levels found at 40 h. Transcripts encoding some lignin peroxidases, manganese peroxidases, and auxiliary enzymes thought to support their activity showed marked apparent upregulation. The data were also consistent with the production of ligninolytic extracellular reactive oxygen species by the action of manganese peroxidase-catalyzed lipid peroxidation, cellobiose dehydrogenase-catalyzed Fe(3+) reduction, and oxidase-catalyzed H2O2 production, but the data do not support a role for iron-chelating glycopeptides. In addition, transcripts encoding a variety of proteins with possible roles in lignin fragment uptake and processing, including 27 likely transporters and 18 cytochrome P450s, became more abundant after the onset of extracellular oxidation. Genes encoding cellulases showed little apparent upregulation and thus may be expressed constitutively. Transcripts corresponding to 165 genes of unknown function accumulated more than 4-fold after oxidation commenced, and some of them may merit investigation as possible contributors to ligninolysis.
The first enzyme with dye-decolorizing peroxidase (DyP) activity was described in 1999 from an arthroconidial culture of the fungus Bjerkandera adusta. However, the first DyP sequence had been deposited three years before, as a peroxidase gene from a culture of an unidentified fungus of the family Polyporaceae (probably Irpex lacteus). Since the first description, fewer than ten basidiomycete DyPs have been purified and characterized, but a large number of sequences are available from genomes. DyPs share a general fold and heme location with chlorite dismutases and other DyP-type related proteins (such as Escherichia coli EfeB), forming the CDE superfamily. Taking into account the lack of an evolutionary relationship with the catalase-peroxidase superfamily, the observed heme pocket similarities must be considered as a convergent type of evolution to provide similar reactivity to the enzyme cofactor. Studies on the Auricularia auricula-judae DyP showed that high-turnover oxidation of anthraquinone type and other DyP substrates occurs via long-range electron transfer from an exposed tryptophan (Trp377, conserved in most basidiomycete DyPs), whose catalytic radical was identified in the H2O2-activated enzyme. The existence of accessory oxidation sites in DyP is suggested by the residual activity observed after site-directed mutagenesis of the above tryptophan. DyP degradation of substituted anthraquinone dyes (such as Reactive Blue 5) most probably proceeds via typical one-electron peroxidase oxidations and product breakdown without a DyP-catalyzed hydrolase reaction. Although various DyPs are able to break down phenolic lignin model dimers, and basidiomycete DyPs also present marginal activity on nonphenolic dimers, a significant contribution to lignin degradation is unlikely because of the low activity on high redox-potential substrates.
Lignin mineralization represents a critical flux in the terrestrial carbon (C) cycle, yet little is known about mechanisms and environmental factors controlling lignin breakdown in mineral soils. Hypoxia is thought to suppress lignin decomposition, yet potential effects of oxygen (O2 ) variability in surface soils have not been explored. Here, we tested the impact of redox fluctuations on lignin breakdown in humid tropical forest soils during ten-week laboratory incubations. We used synthetic lignins labeled with (13) C in either of two positions (aromatic methoxyl or propyl side chain Cβ ) to provide highly sensitive and specific measures of lignin mineralization seldom employed in soils. Four-day redox fluctuations increased the percent contribution of methoxyl C to soil respiration relative to static aerobic conditions, and cumulative methoxyl-C mineralization was statistically equivalent under static aerobic and fluctuating redox conditions despite lower soil respiration in the latter treatment. Contributions of the less labile lignin Cβ to soil respiration were equivalent in the static aerobic and fluctuating redox treatments during periods of O2 exposure, and tended to decline during periods of O2 limitation, resulting in lower cumulative Cβ mineralization in the fluctuating treatment relative to the static aerobic treatment. However, cumulative mineralization of both the Cβ - and methoxyl-labeled lignins nearly doubled in the fluctuating treatment relative to the static aerobic treatment when total lignin mineralization was normalized to total O2 exposure. Oxygen fluctuations are thought to be suboptimal for canonical lignin-degrading microorganisms. However, O2 fluctuations drove substantial Fe reduction and oxidation, and reactive oxygen species generated during abiotic Fe oxidation might explain the elevated contribution of lignin to C mineralization. Iron redox cycling provides a potential mechanism for lignin depletion in soil organic matter. Couplings between soil moisture, redox fluctuations, and lignin breakdown provide a potential link between climate variability and the biochemical composition of soil organic matter.
The white rot basidiomycete Ceriporiopsis subvermispora delignifies wood selectively and has potential biotechnological applications. Its ability to remove lignin before the substrate porosity has increased enough to admit enzymes suggests that small diffusible oxidants contribute to delignification. A key question is whether these unidentified oxidants attack lignin via single-electron transfer (SET), in which case they are expected to cleave its propyl side chains between Cα and Cβ and to oxidize the threo-diastereomer of its predominating β-O-4-linked structures more extensively than the corresponding erythro-diastereomer. We used two-dimensional solution-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques to look for changes in partially biodegraded lignin extracted from spruce wood after white rot caused by C. subvermispora. The results showed that (i) benzoic acid residues indicative of Cα-Cβ cleavage were the major identifiable truncated structures in lignin after decay and (ii) depletion of β-O-4-linked units was markedly diastereoselective with a threo preference. The less selective delignifier Phanerochaete chrysosporium also exhibited this diastereoselectivity on spruce, and a P. chrysosporium lignin peroxidase operating in conjunction with the P. chrysosporium metabolite veratryl alcohol did likewise when cleaving synthetic lignin in vitro. However, C. subvermispora was significantly more diastereoselective than P. chrysosporium or lignin peroxidase-veratryl alcohol. Our results show that the ligninolytic oxidants of C. subvermispora are collectively more diastereoselective than currently known fungal ligninolytic oxidants and suggest that SET oxidation is one of the chemical mechanisms involved.
The genome of Pleurotus ostreatus, an important edible mushroom and a model ligninolytic organism of interest in lignocellulose biorefineries due to its ability to delignify agricultural wastes, was sequenced with the purpose of identifying and characterizing the enzymes responsible for lignin degradation. Heterologous expression of the class II peroxidase genes, followed by kinetic studies, enabled their functional classification. The resulting inventory revealed the absence of lignin peroxidases (LiPs) and the presence of three versatile peroxidases (VPs) and six manganese peroxidases (MnPs), the crystal structures of two of them (VP1 and MnP4) were solved at 1.0 to 1.1 Å showing significant structural differences. Gene expansion supports the importance of both peroxidase types in the white-rot lifestyle of this fungus. Using a lignin model dimer and synthetic lignin, we showed that VP is able to degrade lignin. Moreover, the dual Mn-mediated and Mn-independent activity of P. ostreatus MnPs justifies their inclusion in a new peroxidase subfamily. The availability of the whole POD repertoire enabled investigation, at a biochemical level, of the existence of duplicated genes. Differences between isoenzymes are not limited to their kinetic constants. Surprising differences in their activity T50 and residual activity at both acidic and alkaline pH were observed. Directed mutagenesis and spectroscopic/structural information were combined to explain the catalytic and stability properties of the most interesting isoenzymes, and their evolutionary history was analyzed in the context of over 200 basidiomycete peroxidase sequences. The analysis of the P. ostreatus genome shows a lignin-degrading system where the role generally played by LiP has been assumed by VP. Moreover, it enabled the first characterization of the complete set of peroxidase isoenzymes in a basidiomycete, revealing strong differences in stability properties and providing enzymes of biotechnological interest.
LiP (lignin peroxidase) from Trametopsis cervina has an exposed catalytic tyrosine residue (Tyr181) instead of the tryptophan conserved in other lignin-degrading peroxidases. Pristine LiP showed a lag period in VA (veratryl alcohol) oxidation. However, VA-LiP (LiP after treatment with H2O2 and VA) lacked this lag, and H2O2-LiP (H2O2-treated LiP) was inactive. MS analyses revealed that VA-LiP includes one VA molecule covalently bound to the side chain of Tyr181, whereas H2O2-LiP contains a hydroxylated Tyr181. No adduct is formed in the Y171N variant. Molecular docking showed that VA binding is favoured by sandwich π stacking with Tyr181 and Phe89. EPR spectroscopy after peroxide activation of the pre-treated LiPs showed protein radicals other than the tyrosine radical found in pristine LiP, which were assigned to a tyrosine-VA adduct radical in VA-LiP and a dihydroxyphenyalanine radical in H2O2-LiP. Both radicals are able to oxidize large low-redox-potential substrates, but H2O2-LiP is unable to oxidize high-redox-potential substrates. Transient-state kinetics showed that the tyrosine-VA adduct strongly promotes (>100-fold) substrate oxidation by compound II, the rate-limiting step in catalysis. The novel activation mechanism is involved in ligninolysis, as demonstrated using lignin model substrates. The present paper is the first report on autocatalytic modification, resulting in functional alteration, among class II peroxidases.
Basidiomycetes that cause brown rot of wood are essential biomass recyclers in coniferous forest ecosystems and a major cause of failure in wooden structures. Recent work indicates that distinct lineages of brown rot fungi have arisen independently from ligninolytic white rot ancestors via loss of lignocellulolytic enzymes. Brown rot thus proceeds without significant lignin removal, apparently beginning instead with oxidative attack on wood polymers by Fenton reagent produced when fungal hydroquinones or catechols reduce Fe(3+) in colonized wood. Since there is little evidence that white rot fungi produce these metabolites, one question is the extent to which independent lineages of brown rot fungi may have evolved different Fe(3+) reductants. Recently, the catechol variegatic acid was proposed to drive Fenton chemistry in Serpula lacrymans, a brown rot member of the Boletales (D. C. Eastwood et al., Science 333:762-765, 2011). We found no variegatic acid in wood undergoing decay by S. lacrymans. We found also that variegatic acid failed to reduce in vitro the Fe(3+) oxalate chelates that predominate in brown-rotting wood and that it did not drive Fenton chemistry in vitro under physiological conditions. Instead, the decaying wood contained physiologically significant levels of 2,5-dimethoxyhydroquinone, a reductant with a demonstrated biodegradative role when wood is attacked by certain brown rot fungi in two other divergent lineages, the Gloeophyllales and Polyporales. Our results suggest that the pathway for 2,5-dimethoxyhydroquinone biosynthesis may have been present in ancestral white rot basidiomycetes but do not rule out the possibility that it appeared multiple times via convergent evolution.
Oxidative cleavage of the recalcitrant plant polymer lignin is a crucial step in global carbon cycling, and is accomplished most efficiently by fungi that cause white rot of wood. These basidiomycetes secrete many enzymes and metabolites with proposed ligninolytic roles, and it is not clear whether all of these agents are physiologically important during attack on natural lignocellulosic substrates. One new approach to this problem is to infer properties of ligninolytic oxidants from their spatial distribution relative to the fungus on the lignocellulose. We grew Phanerochaete chrysosporium on wood sections in the presence of oxidant-sensing beads based on the ratiometric fluorescent dye BODIPY 581/591. The beads, having fixed locations relative to the fungal hyphae, enabled spatial mapping of cumulative extracellular oxidant distributions by confocal fluorescence microscopy. The results showed that oxidation gradients occurred around the hyphae, and data analysis using a mathematical reaction-diffusion model indicated that the dominant oxidant during incipient white rot had a half-life under 0.1 s. The best available hypothesis is that this oxidant is the cation radical of the secreted P. chrysosporium metabolite veratryl alcohol.
The white-rot fungus Ceriporiopsis subvermispora delignifies lignocellulose with high selectivity, but until now it has appeared to lack the specialized peroxidases, termed lignin peroxidases (LiPs) and versatile peroxidases (VPs), that are generally thought important for ligninolysis. We screened the recently sequenced C. subvermispora genome for genes that encode peroxidases with a potential ligninolytic role. A total of 26 peroxidase genes was apparent after a structural-functional classification based on homology modeling and a search for diagnostic catalytic amino acid residues. In addition to revealing the presence of nine heme-thiolate peroxidase superfamily members and the unexpected absence of the dye-decolorizing peroxidase superfamily, the search showed that the C. subvermispora genome encodes 16 class II enzymes in the plant-fungal-bacterial peroxidase superfamily, where LiPs and VPs are classified. The 16 encoded enzymes include 13 putative manganese peroxidases and one generic peroxidase but most notably two peroxidases containing the catalytic tryptophan characteristic of LiPs and VPs. We expressed these two enzymes in Escherichia coli and determined their substrate specificities on typical LiP/VP substrates, including nonphenolic lignin model monomers and dimers, as well as synthetic lignin. The results show that the two newly discovered C. subvermispora peroxidases are functionally competent LiPs and also suggest that they are phylogenetically and catalytically intermediate between classical LiPs and VPs. These results offer new insight into selective lignin degradation by C. subvermispora.
Efficient lignin depolymerization is unique to the wood decay basidiomycetes, collectively referred to as white rot fungi. Phanerochaete chrysosporium simultaneously degrades lignin and cellulose, whereas the closely related species, Ceriporiopsis subvermispora, also depolymerizes lignin but may do so with relatively little cellulose degradation. To investigate the basis for selective ligninolysis, we conducted comparative genome analysis of C. subvermispora and P. chrysosporium. Genes encoding manganese peroxidase numbered 13 and five in C. subvermispora and P. chrysosporium, respectively. In addition, the C. subvermispora genome contains at least seven genes predicted to encode laccases, whereas the P. chrysosporium genome contains none. We also observed expansion of the number of C. subvermispora desaturase-encoding genes putatively involved in lipid metabolism. Microarray-based transcriptome analysis showed substantial up-regulation of several desaturase and MnP genes in wood-containing medium. MS identified MnP proteins in C. subvermispora culture filtrates, but none in P. chrysosporium cultures. These results support the importance of MnP and a lignin degradation mechanism whereby cleavage of the dominant nonphenolic structures is mediated by lipid peroxidation products. Two C. subvermispora genes were predicted to encode peroxidases structurally similar to P. chrysosporium lignin peroxidase and, following heterologous expression in Escherichia coli, the enzymes were shown to oxidize high redox potential substrates, but not Mn(2+). Apart from oxidative lignin degradation, we also examined cellulolytic and hemicellulolytic systems in both fungi. In summary, the C. subvermispora genetic inventory and expression patterns exhibit increased oxidoreductase potential and diminished cellulolytic capability relative to P. chrysosporium.
Brown rot basidiomycetes have an important ecological role in lignocellulose recycling and are notable for their rapid degradation of wood polymers via oxidative and hydrolytic mechanisms. However, most of these fungi apparently lack processive (exo-acting) cellulases, such as cellobiohydrolases, which are generally required for efficient cellulolysis. The recent sequencing of the Postia placenta genome now permits a proteomic approach to this longstanding conundrum. We grew P. placenta on solid aspen wood, extracted proteins from the biodegrading substrate, and analyzed tryptic digests by shotgun liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Comparison of the data with the predicted P. placenta proteome revealed the presence of 34 likely glycoside hydrolases, but only four of these--two in glycoside hydrolase family 5, one in family 10, and one in family 12--have sequences that suggested possible activity on cellulose. We expressed these enzymes heterologously and determined that they all exhibited endoglucanase activity on phosphoric acid-swollen cellulose. They also slowly hydrolyzed filter paper, a more crystalline substrate, but the soluble/insoluble reducing sugar ratios they produced classify them as nonprocessive. Computer simulations indicated that these enzymes produced soluble/insoluble ratios on reduced phosphoric acid-swollen cellulose that were higher than expected for random hydrolysis, which suggests that they could possess limited exo activity, but they are at best 10-fold less processive than cellobiohydrolases. It appears likely that P. placenta employs a combination of oxidative mechanisms and endo-acting cellulases to degrade cellulose efficiently in the absence of a significant processive component.
The synthesis of hydroxylated and O- or N-dealkylated human drug metabolites (HDMs) via selective monooxygenation remains a challenging task for synthetic organic chemists. Here we report that aromatic peroxygenases (APOs; EC 1.11.2.1) secreted by the agaric fungi Agrocybe aegerita and Coprinellus radians catalyzed the Hâ
The peroxidation of C18 unsaturated fatty acids by fungal manganese peroxidase (MnP)/Mn(II) and by chelated Mn(III) was studied with application of three different methods: by monitoring oxygen consumption, by measuring conjugated dienes and by thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) formation. All tested polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) were oxidized by MnP in the presence of Mn(II) ions but the rate of their oxidation was not directly related to degree of their unsaturation. As it has been shown by monitoring oxygen consumption and conjugated dienes formation the linoleic acid was the most easily oxidizable fatty acid for MnP/Mn(II) and chelated Mn(III). However, when the lipid peroxidation (LPO) activity was monitored by TBARS formation the linolenic acid gave the highest results. High accumulation of TBARS was also recorded during peroxidation of linoleic acid initiated by MnP/Mn(II). Action of Mn(III)-tartrate on the PUFAs mimics action of MnP in the presence of Mn(II) indicating that Mn(III) ions are involved in LPO initiation. Although in our experiments Mn(III) tartrate gave faster than MnP/Mn(II) initial oxidation of the unsaturated fatty acids with consumption of O(2) and formation of conjugated dienes the process was not productive and did not support further development of LPO. The higher effectiveness of MnP/Mn(II)-initiated LPO system depends on the turnover of manganese provided by MnP. It is proposed that the oxygen consumption assay is the best express method for evaluation of MnP- and Mn(III)-initiated peroxidation of C18 unsaturated fatty acids.
Lignocellulose biodegradation, an essential step in terrestrial carbon cycling, generally involves removal of the recalcitrant lignin barrier that otherwise prevents infiltration by microbial polysaccharide hydrolases. However, fungi that cause brown rot of wood, a major route for biomass recycling in coniferous forests, utilize wood polysaccharides efficiently while removing little of the lignin. The mechanism by which these basidiomycetes breach the lignin remains unclear. We used recently developed methods for solubilization and multidimensional (1) H-(13) C solution-state NMR spectroscopy of ball-milled lignocellulose to analyse aspen wood degraded by Postia placenta. The results showed that decay decreased the content of the principal arylglycerol-β-aryl ether interunit linkage in the lignin by more than half, while increasing the frequency of several truncated lignin structures roughly fourfold over the level found in sound aspen. These new end-groups, consisting of benzaldehydes, benzoic acids and phenylglycerols, accounted for 6-7% of all original lignin subunits. Our results provide evidence that brown rot by P. placenta results in significant ligninolysis, which might enable infiltration of the wood by polysaccharide hydrolases even though the partially degraded lignin remains in situ. Recent work has revealed that the P. placenta genome encodes no ligninolytic peroxidases, but has also shown that this fungus produces an extracellular Fenton system. It is accordingly likely that P. placenta employs electrophilic reactive oxygen species such as hydroxyl radicals to disrupt lignin in wood.
Fungal peroxygenases have recently been shown to catalyze remarkable oxidation reactions. The present study addresses the mechanism of benzylic oxygenations catalyzed by the extracellular peroxygenase of the agaric basidiomycete Agrocybe aegerita. The peroxygenase oxidized toluene and 4-nitrotoluene via the corresponding alcohols and aldehydes to give benzoic acids. The reactions proceeded stepwise with total conversions of 93% for toluene and 12% for 4-nitrotoluene. Using H(2)(18)O(2) as the co-substrate, we show here that H(2)O(2) is the source of the oxygen introduced at each reaction step. A. aegerita peroxygenase resembles cytochromes P450 and heme chloroperoxidase in catalyzing benzylic hydroxylations.
Brown rot basidiomycetes initiate wood decay by producing extracellular reactive oxygen species that depolymerize the structural polysaccharides of lignocellulose. Secreted fungal hydroquinones are considered one contributor because they have been shown to reduce Fe(3+), thus generating perhydroxyl radicals and Fe(2+), which subsequently react further to produce biodegradative hydroxyl radicals. However, many brown rot fungi also secrete high levels of oxalate, which chelates Fe(3+) tightly, making it unreactive with hydroquinones. For hydroquinone-driven hydroxyl radical production to contribute in this environment, an alternative mechanism to oxidize hydroquinones is required. We show here that aspen wood undergoing decay by the oxalate producer Postia placenta contained both 2,5-dimethoxyhydroquinone and laccase activity. Mass spectrometric analysis of proteins extracted from the wood identified a putative laccase (Joint Genome Institute P. placenta protein identification number 111314), and heterologous expression of the corresponding gene confirmed this assignment. Ultrafiltration experiments with liquid pressed from the biodegrading wood showed that a high-molecular-weight component was required for it to oxidize 2,5-dimethoxyhydroquinone rapidly and that this component was replaceable by P. placenta laccase. The purified laccase oxidized 2,5-dimethoxyhydroquinone with a second-order rate constant near 10(4) M(-1) s(-1), and measurements of the H(2)O(2) produced indicated that approximately one perhydroxyl radical was generated per hydroquinone supplied. Using these values and a previously developed computer model, we estimate that the quantity of reactive oxygen species produced by P. placenta laccase in wood is large enough that it likely contributes to incipient decay.
No abstract available.
Many litter-decay fungi secrete heme-thiolate peroxygenases that oxidize various organic chemicals, but little is known about the role or mechanism of these enzymes. We found that the extracellular peroxygenase of Agrocybe aegerita catalyzed the H2O2-dependent cleavage of environmentally significant ethers, including methyl t-butyl ether, tetrahydrofuran, and 1,4-dioxane. Experiments with tetrahydrofuran showed the reaction was a two-electron oxidation that generated one aldehyde group and one alcohol group, yielding the ring-opened product 4-hydroxybutanal. Investigations with several model substrates provided information about the route for ether cleavage: (a) steady-state kinetics results with methyl 3,4-dimethoxybenzyl ether, which was oxidized to 3,4-dimethoxybenzaldehyde, gave parallel double reciprocal plots suggestive of a ping-pong mechanism (K(m)((peroxide)), 1.99 +/- 0.25 mM; K(m)((ether)), 1.43 +/- 0.23 mM; k(cat), 720 +/- 87 s(-1)), (b) the cleavage of methyl 4-nitrobenzyl ether in the presence of H2(18)O2 resulted in incorporation of 18O into the carbonyl group of the resulting 4-nitrobenzaldehyde, and (c) the demethylation of 1-methoxy-4-trideuteromethoxybenzene showed an observed intramolecular deuterium isotope effect [(k(H)/k(D))(obs)] of 11.9 +/- 0.4. These results suggest a hydrogen abstraction and oxygen rebound mechanism that oxidizes ethers to hemiacetals, which subsequently hydrolyze. The peroxygenase appeared to lack activity on macromolecular ethers, but otherwise exhibited a broad substrate range. It may accordingly have a role in the biodegradation of natural and anthropogenic low molecular weight ethers in soils and plant litter.
An extracellular peroxygenase of Agrocybe aegerita catalyzed the H(2)O(2)-dependent hydroxylation of the multi-function beta-adrenergic blocker propranolol (1-naphthalen-1-yloxy-3-(propan-2-ylamino)propan-2-ol) and the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac (2-[2-[(2,6-dichlorophenyl)amino]phenyl]acetic acid) to give the human drug metabolites 5-hydroxypropranolol (5-OHP) and 4'-hydroxydiclofenac (4'-OHD). The reactions proceeded regioselectively with high isomeric purity and gave the desired 5-OHP and 4'-OHD in yields up to 20% and 65%, respectively. (18)O-labeling experiments showed that the phenolic hydroxyl groups in 5-OHP and 4'-OHD originated from H(2)O(2), which establishes that the reaction is mechanistically a peroxygenation. Our results raise the possibility that fungal peroxygenases may be useful for versatile, cost-effective, and scalable syntheses of drug metabolites.
Brown-rot fungi such as Postia placenta are common inhabitants of forest ecosystems and are also largely responsible for the destructive decay of wooden structures. Rapid depolymerization of cellulose is a distinguishing feature of brown-rot, but the biochemical mechanisms and underlying genetics are poorly understood. Systematic examination of the P. placenta genome, transcriptome, and secretome revealed unique extracellular enzyme systems, including an unusual repertoire of extracellular glycoside hydrolases. Genes encoding exocellobiohydrolases and cellulose-binding domains, typical of cellulolytic microbes, are absent in this efficient cellulose-degrading fungus. When P. placenta was grown in medium containing cellulose as sole carbon source, transcripts corresponding to many hemicellulases and to a single putative beta-1-4 endoglucanase were expressed at high levels relative to glucose-grown cultures. These transcript profiles were confirmed by direct identification of peptides by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Also up-regulated during growth on cellulose medium were putative iron reductases, quinone reductase, and structurally divergent oxidases potentially involved in extracellular generation of Fe(II) and H(2)O(2). These observations are consistent with a biodegradative role for Fenton chemistry in which Fe(II) and H(2)O(2) react to form hydroxyl radicals, highly reactive oxidants capable of depolymerizing cellulose. The P. placenta genome resources provide unparalleled opportunities for investigating such unusual mechanisms of cellulose conversion. More broadly, the genome offers insight into the diversification of lignocellulose degrading mechanisms in fungi. Comparisons with the closely related white-rot fungus Phanerochaete chrysosporium support an evolutionary shift from white-rot to brown-rot during which the capacity for efficient depolymerization of lignin was lost.
Fungal lignin-degrading systems likely include membrane-associated proteins that participate in diverse processes such as uptake and oxidation of lignin fragments, production of ligninolytic secondary metabolites, and defense of the mycelium against ligninolytic oxidants. Little is known about the nature or regulation of these membrane-associated components. We grew the white rot basidiomycete Phanerochaete chrysosporium on cellulose or glucose as the carbon source and monitored the mineralization of a (14)C-labeled synthetic lignin by these cultures to assess their ligninolytic competence. The results showed that the cellulose-grown cultures were ligninolytic, whereas the glucose-grown ones were not. We isolated microsomal membrane fractions from both types of culture and analyzed tryptic digests of their proteins by shotgun liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Comparison of the results against the predicted P. chrysosporium proteome showed that a catalase (Joint Genome Institute P. chrysosporium protein identification number [I.D.] 124398), an alcohol oxidase (126879), two transporters (137220 and 132234), and two cytochrome P450s (5011 and 8912) were upregulated under ligninolytic conditions. Quantitative reverse transcription-PCR assays showed that RNA transcripts encoding all of these proteins were also more abundant in ligninolytic cultures. Catalase 124398, alcohol oxidase 126879, and transporter 137220 were found in a proteomic analysis of partially purified plasma membranes from ligninolytic P. chrysosporium and are therefore most likely associated with the outer envelope of the fungus.
Biodegradation by brown-rot fungi is quantitatively one of the most important fates of lignocellulose in nature. It has long been thought that these basidiomycetes do not degrade lignin significantly, and that their activities on this abundant aromatic biopolymer are limited to minor oxidative modifications. Here we have applied a new technique for the complete solubilization of lignocellulose to show, by one-bond (1)H-(13)C correlation nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, that brown rot of spruce wood by Gloeophyllum trabeum resulted in a marked, non-selective depletion of all intermonomer side-chain linkages in the lignin. The resulting polymer retained most of its original aromatic residues and was probably interconnected by new linkages that lack hydrogens and are consequently invisible in one-bond (1)H-(13)C correlation spectra. Additional work is needed to characterize these linkages, but it is already clear that the aromatic polymer remaining after extensive brown rot is no longer recognizable as lignin.
The degradation of lignin by filamentous fungi is a major route for the recycling of photosynthetically fixed carbon, and the oxidative mechanisms employed have potential biotechnological applications. The lignin peroxidases (LiPs), manganese peroxidases (MnPs), and closely related enzymes of white rot basidiomycetes are likely contributors to fungal ligninolysis. Many of them cleave lignin model compounds to give products consistent with those found in residual white-rotted lignin, and at least some depolymerize synthetic lignins. However, none has yet been shown to delignify intact lignocellulose in vitro. The likely reason is that the peroxidases need to act in concert with small oxidants that can penetrate lignified tissues. Recent progress in the dissolution and NMR spectroscopy of plant cell walls may allow new inferences about the nature of the oxidants involved. Furthermore, increasing knowledge about the genomes of ligninolytic fungi may help us decide whether any of the peroxidases has an essential role.
Wood-grown cultures of Daldinia concentrica oxidized a permethylated beta-(14)C-labeled synthetic lignin to (14)CO(2) and also cleaved a permethylated alpha-(13)C-labeled synthetic lignin to give C(alpha)-C(beta) cleavage products that were detected by (13)C nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry. Therefore, this ascomycete resembles white-rot basidiomycetes in attacking the recalcitrant nonphenolic structures that predominate in lignin.
Soils and decayed plant litter contain significant quantities of chlorinated aromatic polymers that have a natural but largely unknown origin. We used cupric oxide ligninolysis coupled with gas chromatography/mass spectrometry to show that Curvularia inaequalis, a widely distributed litter ascomycete, chlorinated the aromatic rings of lignin in wood that it was degrading. In aspen wood decayed for 24 weeks, two chlorolignin fragments, 5-chlorovanillin and 2-chlorosyringaldehyde, were each found at approximately 10 mug/g of wood (dry weight). These levels resemble those of similar structures generally found in unpolluted environmental samples. Fractionation of the extractable proteins followed by tandem mass spectrometric analysis showed that the colonized wood contained a previously described C. inaequalis chloroperoxidase that very likely catalyzed lignin chlorination. Chlorolignin produced by this route and humus derived from it are probably significant components of the global chlorine cycle because chloroperoxidase-producing fungi are ubiquitous in decaying lignocellulose and lignin is the earth's most abundant aromatic substance.
The fungi that cause brown rot of wood initiate lignocellulose breakdown with an extracellular Fenton system in which Fe(2+) and H(2)O(2) react to produce hydroxyl radicals (.OH), which then oxidize and cleave the wood holocellulose. One such fungus, Gloeophyllum trabeum, drives Fenton chemistry on defined media by reducing Fe(3+) and O(2) with two extracellular hydroquinones, 2,5-dimethoxyhydroquinone (2,5-DMHQ) and 4,5-dimethoxycatechol (4,5-DMC). However, it has never been shown that the hydroquinones contribute to brown rot of wood. We grew G. trabeum on spruce blocks and found that 2,5-DMHQ and 4,5-DMC were each present in the aqueous phase at concentrations near 20 microM after 1 week. We determined rate constants for the reactions of 2,5-DMHQ and 4,5-DMC with the Fe(3+)-oxalate complexes that predominate in wood undergoing brown rot, finding them to be 43 l mol(-1) s(-1) and 65 l mol(-1) s(-1) respectively. Using these values, we estimated that the average amount of hydroquinone-driven .OH production during the first week of decay was 11.5 micromol g(-1) dry weight of wood. Viscometry of the degraded wood holocellulose coupled with computer modelling showed that a number of the same general magnitude, 41.2 micromol oxidations per gram, was required to account for the depolymerization that occurred in the first week. Moreover, the decrease in holocellulose viscosity was correlated with the measured concentrations of hydroquinones. Therefore, hydroquinone-driven Fenton chemistry is one component of the biodegradative arsenal that G. trabeum expresses on wood.
Brown rot basidiomycetes have long been thought to lack the processive cellulases that release soluble sugars from crystalline cellulose. On the other hand, these fungi remove all of the cellulose, both crystalline and amorphous, from wood when they degrade it. To resolve this discrepancy, we grew Gloeophyllum trabeum on microcrystalline cellulose (Avicel) and purified the major glycosylhydrolases it produced. The most abundant extracellular enzymes in these cultures were a 42-kDa endoglucanase (Cel5A), a 39-kDa xylanase (Xyn10A), and a 28-kDa endoglucanase (Cel12A). Cel5A had significant Avicelase activity--4.5 nmol glucose equivalents released/min/mg protein. It is a processive endoglucanase, because it hydrolyzed Avicel to cellobiose as the major product while introducing only a small proportion of reducing sugars into the remaining, insoluble substrate. Therefore, since G. trabeum is already known to produce a beta-glucosidase, it is now clear that this brown rot fungus produces enzymes capable of yielding assimilable glucose from crystalline cellulose.
Quinone reductases (QRDs) have two important functions in the basidiomycete Gloeophyllum trabeum, which causes brown rot of wood. First, a QRD is required to generate biodegradative hydroxyl radicals via redox cycling between two G. trabeum extracellular metabolites, 2,5-dimethoxyhydroquinone (2,5-DMHQ) and 2,5-dimethoxy-1,4-benzoquinone (2,5-DMBQ). Second, because 2,5-DMBQ is cytotoxic and 2,5-DMHQ is not, a QRD is needed to maintain the intracellular pool of these metabolites in the reduced form. Given their importance in G. trabeum metabolism, QRDs could prove useful targets for new wood preservatives. We have identified two G. trabeum genes, each existing in two closely related, perhaps allelic variants, that encode QRDs in the flavodoxin family. Past work with QRD1 and heterologous expression of QRD2 in this study confirmed that both genes encode NADH-dependent, flavin-containing QRDs. Real-time reverse transcription PCR analyses of liquid- and wood-grown cultures showed that qrd1 expression was maximal during secondary metabolism, coincided with the production of 2,5-DMBQ, and was moderately up-regulated by chemical stressors such as quinones. By contrast, qrd2 expression was maximal during fungal growth when 2,5-DMBQ levels were low, yet was markedly up-regulated by chemical stress or heat shock. The total QRD activity in lysates of G. trabeum mycelium was significantly enhanced by induction beforehand with a cytotoxic quinone. The promoter of qrd2 contains likely antioxidant, xenobiotic, and heat shock elements, absent in qrd1, that probably explain the greater response of qrd2 transcription to stress. We conclude from these results that QRD1 is the enzyme G. trabeum routinely uses to detoxify quinones during incipient wood decay and that it could also drive the biodegradative quinone redox cycle. However, QRD2 assumes a more important role when the mycelium is stressed.
Two fungal chloroperoxidases (CPOs), the heme enzyme from Caldariomyces fumago and the vanadium enzyme from Curvularia inaequalis, chlorinated 1-(4-ethoxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-2-(2-methoxyphenoxy)-1,3-dihydroxypropane, a dimeric model compound that represents the major nonphenolic structure in lignin. Both enzymes also cleaved this dimer to give 1-chloro-4-ethoxy-3-methoxybenzene and 1,2-dichloro-4-ethoxy-5-methoxybenzene, and they depolymerized a synthetic guaiacyl lignin. Since fungal CPOs occur in soils and the fungi that produce them are common inhabitants of plant debris, CPOs may have roles in the natural production of high-molecular-weight chloroaromatics and in lignin breakdown.
It is often proposed that brown rot basidiomycetes use extracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) to accomplish the initial depolymerization of cellulose in wood, but little evidence has been presented to show that the fungi produce these oxidants in physiologically relevant quantities. We used [(14)C]phenethyl polyacrylate as a radical trap to estimate extracellular ROS production by two brown rot fungi, Gloeophyllum trabeum and Postia placenta, that were degrading cellulose. Both fungi oxidized aromatic rings on the trap to give monohydroxylated and more polar products in significant yields. All of the cultures contained 2,5-dimethoxyhydroquinone, a fungal metabolite that has been shown to drive Fenton chemistry in vitro. These results show that extracellular ROS occur at significant levels in cellulose colonized by brown rot fungi, and suggest that hydroquinone-driven ROS production may contribute to decay by diverse brown rot species.
The brown-rot basidiomycete Gloeophyllum trabeum uses a quinone redox cycle to generate extracellular Fenton reagent, a key component of the biodegradative system expressed by this highly destructive wood decay fungus. The hitherto uncharacterized quinone reductase that drives this cycle is a potential target for inhibitors of wood decay. We have identified the major quinone reductase expressed by G. trabeum under conditions that elicit high levels of quinone redox cycling. The enzyme comprises two identical 22-kDa subunits, each with one molecule of flavin mononucleotide. It is specific for NADH as the reductant and uses the quinones produced by G. trabeum (2,5-dimethoxy-1,4-benzoquinone and 4,5-dimethoxy-1,2-benzoquinone) as electron acceptors. The affinity of the reductase for these quinones is so high that precise kinetic parameters were not obtainable, but it is clear that k(cat)/K(m) for the quinones is greater than 10(8) M(-1) s(-1). The reductase is encoded by a gene with substantial similarity to NAD(P)H:quinone reductase genes from other fungi. The G. trabeum quinone reductase may function in quinone detoxification, a role often proposed for these enzymes, but we hypothesize that the fungus has recruited it to drive extracellular oxyradical production.
The brown rot fungus Gloeophyllum trabeum uses an extracellular hydroquinone-quinone redox cycle to reduce Fe(3+) and produce H(2)O(2). These reactions generate extracellular Fenton reagent, which enables G. trabeum to degrade a wide variety of organic compounds. We found that G. trabeum secreted two quinones, 2,5-dimethoxy-1,4-benzoquinone (2,5-DMBQ) and 4,5-dimethoxy-1,2-benzoquinone (4,5-DMBQ), that underwent iron-dependent redox cycling. Experiments that monitored the iron- and quinone-dependent cleavage of polyethylene glycol by G. trabeum showed that 2,5-DMBQ was more effective than 4,5-DMBQ in supporting extracellular Fenton chemistry. Two factors contributed to this result. First, G. trabeum reduced 2,5-DMBQ to 2,5-dimethoxyhydroquinone (2,5-DMHQ) much more rapidly than it reduced 4,5-DMBQ to 4,5-dimethoxycatechol (4,5-DMC). Second, although both hydroquinones reduced ferric oxalate complexes, the predominant form of Fe(3+) in G. trabeum cultures, the 2,5-DMHQ-dependent reaction reduced O(2) more rapidly than the 4,5-DMC-dependent reaction. Nevertheless, both hydroquinones probably contribute to the extracellular Fenton chemistry of G. trabeum, because 2,5-DMHQ by itself is an efficient reductant of 4,5-DMBQ.
Phenolic and nonphenolic (permethylated) synthetic [14C]lignins were depolymerized by Trametes villosa laccase in the presence of a radical mediator, 1-hydroxybenzotriazole (HOBT). Gel permeation chromatography of the treated lignins showed that approximately 10% of their substructures were cleaved. The system also cleaved a beta-O-4-linked model compound, 1-(4-ethoxy-3-methoxy-ring-[14C]phenyl)-2-(2-methoxyphenoxy)-propane- 1,3-diol, and a beta-1-linked model, 1, 2-bis-(3-methoxy-4-[14C]methoxyphenyl)-propane-1,3-diol, that represent nonphenolic substructures in lignin. High performance liquid chromatography of products from the oxidized models showed that they were produced in sufficient yields to account for the ability of laccase/HOBT to depolymerize nonphenolic lignin.
Past work has shown that the extracellular manganese-dependent peroxidases (MnPs) of ligninolytic fungi degrade the principal non-phenolic structures of lignin when they peroxidize unsaturated fatty acids. This reaction is likely to be relevant to ligninolysis in sound wood, where enzymes cannot penetrate, only if it employs a small, diffusible lipid radical as the proximal oxidant of lignin. Here we show that a non-phenolic beta-O-4-linked lignin model dimer was oxidized to products indicative of hydrogen abstraction and electron transfer by three different peroxyl radical-generating systems: (a) MnP/Mn(II)/linoleic acid, (b) arachidonic acid in which peroxidation was initiated by a small amount of H(2)O(2)/Fe(II), and (c) the thermolysis in air of either 4,4'-azobis(4-cyanovaleric acid) or 2,2'-azobis(2-methylpropionamidine) dihydrochloride. Some quantitative differences in the product distributions were found, but these were attributable to the presence of electron-withdrawing substituents on the peroxyl radicals derived from azo precursors. Our results introduce a new hypothesis: that biogenic peroxyl radicals may be agents of lignin biodegradation.
We have identified key components of the extracellular oxidative system that the brown rot fungus Gloeophyllum trabeum uses to degrade a recalcitrant polymer, polyethylene glycol, via hydrogen abstraction reactions. G. trabeum produced an extracellular metabolite, 2,5-dimethoxy-1,4-benzoquinone, and reduced it to 2,5-dimethoxyhydroquinone. In the presence of 2,5-dimethoxy-1,4-benzoquinone, the fungus also reduced extracellular Fe3+ to Fe2+ and produced extracellular H2O2. Fe3+ reduction and H2O2 formation both resulted from a direct, non-enzymatic reaction between 2,5-dimethoxyhydroquinone and Fe3+. Polyethylene glycol depolymerization by G. trabeum required both 2,5-dimethoxy-1,4-benzoquinone and Fe3+ and was completely inhibited by catalase. These results provide evidence that G. trabeum uses a hydroquinone-driven Fenton reaction to cleave polyethylene glycol. We propose that similar reactions account for the ability of G. trabeum to attack lignocellulose.
Fungi that cause brown rot of wood are essential biomass recyclers and also the principal agents of decay in wooden structures, but the extracellular mechanisms by which they degrade lignocellulose remain unknown. To test the hypothesis that brown-rot fungi use extracellular free radical oxidants as biodegradative tools, Gloeophyllum trabeum was examined for its ability to depolymerize an environmentally recalcitrant polyether, poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO), that cannot penetrate cell membranes. Analyses of degraded PEOs by gel permeation chromatography showed that the fungus cleaved PEO rapidly by an endo route. 13C NMR analyses of unlabeled and perdeuterated PEOs recovered from G. trabeum cultures showed that a major route for depolymerization was oxidative C---C bond cleavage, a reaction diagnostic for hydrogen abstraction from a PEO methylene group by a radical oxidant. Fenton reagent (Fe(II)/H2O2) oxidized PEO by the same route in vitro and therefore might account for PEO biodegradation if it is produced by the fungus, but the data do not rule out involvement of less reactive radicals. The reactivity and extrahyphal location of this PEO-degrading system suggest that its natural function is to participate in the brown rot of wood and that it may enable brown-rot fungi to degrade recalcitrant organopollutants.
The white-rot fungus Ceriporiopsis subvermispora is able to degrade nonphenolic lignin structures but appears to lack lignin peroxidase (LiP), which is generally thought to be responsible for these reactions. It is well established that LiP-producing fungi such as Phanerochaete chrysosporium degrade nonphenolic lignin via one-electron oxidation of its aromatic moieties, but little is known about ligninolytic mechanisms in apparent nonproducers of LiP such as C. subvermispora. To address this question, C. subvermispora and P. chrysosporium were grown on cellulose blocks and given two high-molecular-weight, polyethylene glycol-linked model compounds that represent the major nonphenolic arylglycerol-(beta)-aryl ether structure of lignin. The model compounds were designed so that their cleavage via one-electron oxidation would leave diagnostic fragments attached to the polyethylene glycol. One model compound was labeled with (sup13)C at C(inf(alpha)) of its propyl side chain and carried ring alkoxyl substituents that favor C(inf(alpha))-C(inf(beta)) cleavage after one-electron oxidation. The other model compound was labeled with (sup13)C at C(inf(beta)) of its propyl side chain and carried ring alkoxyl substituents that favor C(inf(beta))-O-aryl cleavage after one-electron oxidation. To assess fungal degradation of the models, the high-molecular-weight metabolites derived from them were recovered from the cultures and analyzed by (sup13)C nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry. The results showed that both C. subvermispora and P. chrysosporium degraded the models by routes indicative of one-electron oxidation. Therefore, the ligninolytic mechanisms of these two fungi are similar. C. subvermispora might use a cryptic LiP to catalyze these C(inf(alpha))-C(inf(beta)) and C(inf(beta))-O-aryl cleavage reactions, but the data are also consistent with the involvement of some other one-electron oxidant.
The white rot fungus Phanerochaete chrysosporium mineralized [ring-(sup14)C]methoxychlor [1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis(4-methoxyphenyl)ethane] and metabolized it to a variety of products. The three most prominent of these were identified as the 1-dechloro derivative 1,1-dichloro-2,2-bis(4-methoxyphenyl)ethane, the 2-hydroxy derivative 2,2,2-trichloro-1,1-bis(4-methoxyphenyl)ethanol, and the 1-dechloro-2-hydroxy derivative 2,2-dichloro-1,1-bis(4-methoxyphenyl)ethanol by comparison of the derivatives with authentic standards in chromatographic and mass spectrometric experiments. In addition, the 1-dechloro-2-hydroxy derivative was identified from its (sup1)H nuclear magnetic resonance spectrum. The 1-dechloro and 2-hydroxy derivatives were both converted to the 1-dechloro-2-hydroxy derivative by the fungus; i.e., there was no requirement that dechlorination precede hydroxylation or vice versa. All three metabolites were mineralized and are therefore likely intermediates in the degradation of methoxychlor by P. chrysosporium.
Vol. 62, no. 10, p. 3684, column 2, line 16: "Tri(methylsilyl)" should read "Tri(trimethylsilyl)." Line 17: "Di(methylsilyl)" should read "Di(trimethylsilyl)." Line 20: "Tri(methylsilyl)" should read "Trimethylsilyl." Page 3686, column 1, reference 12: The journal should be Dokl. Akad. Nauk Belarusi. [This corrects the article on p. 3679 in vol. 62.].
Many ligninolytic fungi appear to lack lignin peroxidase (LiP), the enzyme generally thought to cleave the major, recalcitrant, nonphenolic structures in lignin. At least one such fungus, Ceriporiopsis subvermispora, is nevertheless able to degrade these nonphenolic structures. Experiments showed that wood block cultures and defined liquid medium cultures of C. subvermispora rapidly depolymerized and mineralized a (sup14)C-labeled, polyethylene glycol-linked, high-molecular-weight (beta)-O-4 lignin model compound (model I) that represents the major nonphenolic structure of lignin. The fungus cleaved model I between C(inf(alpha)) and C(inf(beta)) to release benzylic fragments, which were shown in isotope trapping experiments to be major products of model I metabolism. The C(inf(alpha))-C(inf(beta)) cleavage of (beta)-O-4 lignin structures to release benzylic fragments is characteristic of LiP catalysis, but assays of C. subvermispora liquid cultures that were metabolizing model I confirmed that the fungus produced no detectable LiP activity. Three results pointed, instead, to the participation of a different enzyme, manganese peroxidase (MnP), in the degradation of nonphenolic lignin structures by C. subvermispora. (i) The degradation of model I and of exhaustively methylated (nonphenolic), (sup14)C-labeled, synthetic lignin by the fungus in liquid cultures was almost completely inhibited when the Mn concentration of the medium was decreased from 35 (mu)M to approximately 5 (mu)M. (ii) The fungus degraded model I and methylated lignin significantly faster in the presence of Tween 80, a source of unsaturated fatty acids, than it did in the presence of Tween 20, which contains only saturated fatty acids. Previous work has shown that nonphenolic lignin structures are degraded during the MnP-mediated peroxidation of unsaturated lipids. (iii) In experiments with MnP, Mn(II), and unsaturated lipid in vitro, this system mimicked intact C. subvermispora cultures in that it cleaved nonphenolic (beta)-O-4 lignin model compounds between C(inf(alpha)) and C(inf(beta)) to release a benzylic fragment.
The oxidation of fluorene, a polycyclic hydrocarbon which is not a substrate for fungal lignin peroxidase, was studied in liquid cultures of Phanerochaete chrysosporium and in vitro with P. chrysosporium extracellular enzymes. Intact fungal cultures metabolized fluorene to 9-hydroxyfluorene via 9-fluorenone. Some conversion to more-polar products was also observed. Oxidation of fluorene to 9-fluorenone was also obtained in vitro in a system that contained manganese(II), unsaturated fatty acid, and either crude P. chrysosporium peroxidases or purified recombinant manganese peroxidase. The oxidation of fluorene in vitro was inhibited by the free-radical scavenger butylated hydroxytoluene but not by the lignin peroxidase inhibitor NaVO(inf3). Manganese(III)-malonic acid complexes could not oxidize fluorene. These results indicate that fluorene oxidation in vitro was a consequence of lipid peroxidation mediated by P. chrysosporium manganese peroxidase. The rates of fluorene and diphenylmethane disappearance in vitro were significantly faster than those of true polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons or fluoranthenes, whose rates of disappearance were ionization potential dependent. This result indicates that the initial oxidation of fluorene proceeds by mechanisms other than electron abstraction and that benzylic hydrogen abstraction is probably the route for oxidation.
Lignin model dimers are valuable tools for the elucidation of microbial ligninolytic mechanisms, but their low molecular weight (MW) makes them susceptible to nonligninolytic intracellular metabolism. To address this problem, we prepared lignin models in which unlabeled and alpha-14C-labeled beta-O-4-linked dimers were covalently attached to 8,000-MW polyethylene glycol (PEG) or to 45,000-MW polystyrene (PS). The water-soluble PEG-linked model was mineralized extensively in liquid medium and in solid wood cultures by the white rot fungus Phanerochaete chrysosporium, whereas the water-insoluble PS-linked model was not. Gel permeation chromatography showed that P. chrysosporium degraded the PEG-linked model by cleaving its lignin dimer substructure rather than its PEG moiety. C alpha-C beta cleavage was the major fate of the PEG-linked model after incubation with P. chrysosporium in vivo and also after oxidation with P. chrysosporium lignin peroxidase in vitro. The brown rot fungus Gloeophyllum trabeum, which unlike P. chrysosporium lacks a vigorous extracellular ligninolytic system, was unable to degrade the PEG-linked model efficiently. These results show that PEG-linked lignin models are a marked improvement over the low-MW models that have been used in the past.
Ligninolytic fungi accomplish the partial degradation of numerous aromatic organopollutants. Their ability to degrade polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is particularly interesting because eukaryotes were previously considered to be unable to cleave fused-ring aromatics. Recent results indicate that extracellular peroxidases of these fungi are responsible for the initial oxidation of PAHs. Fungal lignin peroxidases oxidize certain PAHs directly, whereas fungal manganese peroxidases co-oxidize them indirectly during enzyme-mediated lipid peroxidation.
Lignin peroxidases (LiPs) are likely catalysts of ligninolysis in many white-rot fungi, because they have the unusual ability to depolymerize the major, recalcitrant, non-phenolic structures of lignin. Some white-rot fungi have been reported to lack LiP when grown on defined medium, but it is not clear whether they exhibit full ligninolytic competence under these conditions. To address this problem, we compared the abilities of a known LiP producer, Phanerochaete chrysosporium, with those of a reported nonproducer, Ceriporiopsis subvermispora, to degrade a synthetic lignin with normal phenolic content, a lignin with all phenolic units blocked, and a dimer, 1-(4-ethoxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-2-(2-methoxyphenoxy)propane-1,3-diol, that represents the major nonphenolic structure in lignin. P. chrysosporium mineralized all three models rapidly in defined medium, but C. subvermispora showed appreciable activity only toward the more labile phenolic compound under these conditions. However, in wood, its natural environment, C. subvermispora mineralized all of the models as rapidly as P. chrysosporium did. Defined media therefore fail to elicit a key component of the ligninolytic system in C. subvermispora. A double-labeling experiment with the dimeric model showed that a LiP-dependent pathway was responsible for at least half of dimer mineralization in wood by P. chrysosporium but was responsible for no more than 6-7% of mineralization by C. subvermispora in wood. Therefore, C. subvermispora has mechanisms for degradation of nonphenolic lignin that are as efficient as those in P. chrysosporium but that do not depend on LiP.
Oxidative C alpha-C beta cleavage of the arylglycerol beta-aryl ether lignin model 1-(3,4-dimethoxy-phenyl)-2-phenoxypropane-1,3-diol (I) by Phanerochaete chrysosporium lignin peroxidase in the presence of limiting H2O2 was enhanced 4-5-fold by glyoxal oxidase from the same fungus. Further investigation showed that each C alpha-C beta cleavage reaction released 0.8-0.9 equiv of glycolaldehyde, a glyoxal oxidase substrate. The identification of glycolaldehyde was based on 13C NMR spectrometry of reaction product obtained from beta-, gamma-, and beta,gamma-13C-substituted I, and quantitation was based on an enzymatic NADH-linked assay. The oxidation of glycolaldehyde by glyoxal oxidase yielded 0.9 oxalate and 2.8 H2O2 per reaction, as shown by quantitation of oxalate as 2,3-dihydroxyquinoxaline after derivatization with 1,2-diaminobenzene and by quantitation of H2O2 in coupled spectrophotometric assays with veratryl alcohol and lignin peroxidase. These results suggest that the C alpha-C beta cleavage of I by lignin peroxidase in the presence of glyoxal oxidase should regenerate as many as 3 H2O2. Calculations based on the observed enhancement of LiP-catalyzed C alpha-C beta cleavage by glyoxal oxidase showed that approximately 2 H2O2 were actually regenerated per cleavage of I when both enzymes were present. The cleavage of arylglycerol beta-aryl ether structures by ligninolytic enzymes thus recycles H2O2 to support subsequent cleavage reactions.
A non-phenolic lignin model dimer, 1-(4-ethoxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-2-phenoxypropane-1,3-diol, was oxidized by a lipid peroxidation system that consisted of a fungal manganese peroxidase, Mn(II), and unsaturated fatty acid esters. The reaction products included 1-(4-ethoxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-1-oxo-2-phenoxy-3-hydroxypropane and 1-(4-ethoxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-1-oxo-3-hydroxypropane, indicating that substrate oxidation occurred via benzylic hydrogen abstraction. The peroxidation system depolymerized both exhaustively methylated (non-phenolic) and unmethylated (phenolic) synthetic lignins efficiently. It may therefore enable white-rot fungi to accomplish the initial delignification of wood.
The manganese peroxidase (MnP) of Phanerochaete chrysosporium supported Mn(II)-dependent, H(2)O(2)-independent lipid peroxidation, as shown by two findings: linolenic acid was peroxidized to give products that reacted with thiobarbituric acid, and linoleic acid was peroxidized to give hexanal. MnP also supported the slow oxidation of phenanthrene to 2,2'-diphenic acid in a reaction that required Mn(II), oxygen, and unsaturated lipids. Phenanthrene oxidation to diphenic acid by intact cultures of P. chrysosporium occurred to the same extent that oxidation in vitro did and was stimulated by Mn. These results support a role for MnP-mediated lipid peroxidation in phenanthrene oxidation by P. chrysosporium.
Veratryl alcohol (VA) is a secondary metabolite of white-rot fungi that produce the ligninolytic enzyme lignin peroxidase. VA stabilizes lignin peroxidase, promotes the ability of this enzyme to oxidize a variety of physiological substrates, and is accordingly thought to play a significant role in fungal ligninolysis. Pulse-labeling and isotope-trapping experiments have now clarified the pathway for VA biosynthesis in the white-rot basidiomycete Phanerochaete chrysosporium. The pulse-labeling data, obtained with C-labeled phenylalanine, cinnamic acid, benzoic acid, and benzaldehyde, showed that radiocarbon labeling followed a reproducible sequence: it peaked first in cinnamate, then in benzoate and benzaldehyde, and finally in VA. Phenylalanine, cinnamate, benzoate, and benzaldehyde were all efficient precursors of VA in vivo. The isotope-trapping experiments showed that exogenous, unlabeled benzoate and benzaldehyde were effective traps of phenylalanine-derived C. These results support a pathway in which VA biosynthesis proceeds as follows: phenylalanine --> cinnamate --> benzoate and/or benzaldehyde --> VA.
The lignin peroxidases (LiPs) of white-rot basidiomycetes are generally thought to catalyze the oxidative cleavage of polymeric lignin in vivo. However, direct evidence for such a role has been lacking. In this investigation, 14C- and 13C-labeled synthetic lignins were oxidized with a purified isozyme of Phanerochaete chrysosporium LiP. Gel permeation chromatography of the radiolabeled polymers showed that LiP catalyzed their cleavage to give soluble lower-M(r) products. To a lesser extent, the enzyme also polymerized the lignins to give soluble higher-M(r) products. This result is attributable to the fact that purified LiP, unlike the intact fungus, provides no mechanism for the removal of lignin fragments that are susceptible to repolymerization. LiP catalysis also gave small quantities of insoluble, perhaps polymerized, lignin, but in lower yield than intact P. chrysosporium does. 13C NMR experiments with 13C-labeled polymer showed that LiP cleaved it between C alpha and C beta of the propyl side chain to give benzylic aldehydes at C alpha, in agreement with the cleavage mechanism hypothesized earlier. The data show that LiP catalysis accounts adequately for the initial steps of ligninolysis by P. chrysosporium in vivo.
The ligninolytic fungus Phanerochaete chrysosporium oxidized phenanthrene and phenanthrene-9,10-quinone (PQ) at their C-9 and C-10 positions to give a ring-fission product, 2,2'-diphenic acid (DPA), which was identified in chromatographic and isotope dilution experiments. DPA formation from phenanthrene was somewhat greater in low-nitrogen (ligninolytic) cultures than in high-nitrogen (nonligninolytic) cultures and did not occur in uninoculated cultures. The oxidation of PQ to DPA involved both fungal and abiotic mechanisms, was unaffected by the level of nitrogen added, and was significantly faster than the cleavage of phenanthrene to DPA. Phenanthrene-trans-9,10-dihydrodiol, which was previously shown to be the principal phenanthrene metabolite in nonligninolytic P. chrysosporium cultures, was not formed in the ligninolytic cultures employed here. These results suggest that phenanthrene degradation by ligninolytic P. chrysosporium proceeds in order from phenanthrene----PQ----DPA, involves both ligninolytic and nonligninolytic enzymes, and is not initiated by a classical microsomal cytochrome P-450. The extracellular lignin peroxidases of P. chrysosporium were not able to oxidize phenanthrene in vitro and therefore are also unlikely to catalyze the first step of phenanthrene degradation in vivo. Both phenanthrene and PQ were mineralized to similar extents by the fungus, which supports the intermediacy of PQ in phenanthrene degradation, but both compounds were mineralized significantly less than the structurally related lignin peroxidase substrate pyrene was.
Ligninolytic fungi are unique among eukaryotes in their ability to degrade polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), but the mechanism for this process is unknown. Although certain PAHs are oxidized in vitro by the fungal lignin peroxidases (LiPs) that catalyze ligninolysis, it has never been shown that LiPs initiate PAH degradation in vivo. To address these problems, the metabolism of anthracene (AC) and its in vitro oxidation product, 9,10-anthraquinone (AQ), was examined by chromatographic and isotope dilution techniques in Phanerochaete chrysosporium. The fungal oxidation of AC to AQ was rapid, and both AC and AQ were significantly mineralized. Both compounds were cleaved by the fungus to give the same ring-fission metabolite, phthalic acid, and phthalate production from AQ was shown to occur only under ligninolytic culture conditions. These results show that the major pathway for AC degradation in Phanerochaete proceeds AC----AQ----phthalate + CO2 and that it is probably mediated by LiPs and other enzymes of ligninolytic metabolism.
Lignin peroxidase oxidizes non-phenolic substrates by one electron to give aryl-cation-radical intermediates, which react further to give a variety of products. The present study investigated the possibility that other peroxidative and oxidative enzymes known to catalyse one-electron oxidations may also oxidize non-phenolics to cation-radical intermediates and that this ability is related to the redox potential of the substrate. Lignin peroxidase from the fungus Phanerochaete chrysosporium, horseradish peroxidase (HRP) and laccase from the fungus Trametes versicolor were chosen for investigation with methoxybenzenes as a homologous series of substrates. The twelve methoxybenzene congeners have known half-wave potentials that differ by as much as approximately 1 V. Lignin peroxidase oxidized the ten with the lowest half-wave potentials, whereas HRP oxidized the four lowest and laccase oxidized only 1,2,4,5-tetramethoxybenzene, the lowest. E.s.r. spectroscopy showed that this congener is oxidized to its cation radical by all three enzymes. Oxidation in each case gave the same products: 2,5-dimethoxy-p-benzoquinone and 4,5-dimethoxy-o-benzoquinone, in a 4:1 ratio, plus 2 mol of methanol for each 1 mol of substrate. Using HRP-catalysed oxidation, we showed that the quinone oxygen atoms are derived from water. We conclude that the three enzymes affect their substrates similarly, and that whether an aromatic compound is a substrate depends in large part on its redox potential. Furthermore, oxidized lignin peroxidase is clearly a stronger oxidant than oxidized HRP or laccase. Determination of the enzyme kinetic parameters for the methoxybenzene oxidations demonstrated further differences among the enzymes.
Mn(III) is a one-electron oxidant, produced in vivo by the Mn peroxidases of white-rot fungi, and thought to be involved in lignin degradation by these organisms. However, Mn(III) has not been shown to oxidize the major nonphenolic substructures of lignin under mild conditions. We have used Mn(III) acetate as a biomimetic model for enzymatically generated Mn(III), and report that low concentrations of this oxidant suffice to oxidize nonphenolic lignin models at physiological temperatures and pH values. Under these conditions, the monomeric lignin model veratryl alcohol was oxidized to veratraldehyde, and the diarylpropane model 1-(3,4-dimethoxyphenyl)-2-phenylpropanol was oxidatively cleaved to veratraldehyde, 1-phenylethanol, and acetophenone. In an attempt to identify other lignin models that might be oxidized by Mn(III) more rapidly, we compared the rates at which Mn(III) was reduced by two guaiacyl models, veratryl alcohol and 1-(3-methoxy-4-isopropoxyphenyl)ethanol, vs two syringyl models, 3,4,5-trimethoxybenzyl alcohol and 1-(3,5-dimethoxy-4-isopropoxyphenyl)ethanol. The results were the opposite of those predicted: the syringyl models were oxidized slower than the guaiacyl models by Mn(III). To investigate the basis for this unexpected result, we recorded the visible absorption spectra of charge-transfer complexes prepared between each of the lignin models and an electron acceptor, tetracyanoethylene or p-chloranil. The results, in general agreement with the kinetic findings, showed that the nonphenolic syringyl lignin models had higher ionization potentials than the guaiacyl models.
The lignin peroxidase (ligninase) of Phanerochaete chrysosporium catalyzes the oxidation of a variety of lignin-related compounds. Here we report that this enzyme also catalyzes the oxidation of certain aromatic pollutants and compounds related to them, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons with ionization potentials less than or equal to approximately 7.55 eV. This result demonstrates that the H2O2-oxidized states of lignin peroxidase are more oxidizing than the analogous states of classical peroxidases. Experiments with pyrene as the substrate showed that pyrene-1,6-dione and pyrene-1,8-dione are the major oxidation products (84% of total as determined by high performance liquid chromatography), and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry analysis of ligninase-catalyzed pyrene oxidations done in the presence of H2(18)O showed that the quinone oxygens come from water. We found that whole cultures of P. chrysosporium also transiently oxidize pyrene to these quinones. Experiments with dibenzo[p]dioxin and 2-chlorodibenzo[p]dioxin showed that they are also substrates for ligninase. The immediate product of dibenzo[p]dioxin oxidation is the dibenzo[p]dioxin cation radical, which was observed in enzymatic reactions by its electron spin resonance and visible absorption spectra. The cation radical mechanism of ligninase thus applies not only to lignin, but also to other environmentally significant aromatics.
No abstract available.
