DEGRADATION OF LIGNIN-CARBOHYDRATE COMPLEX (LCC) BY WOOD-ROTTING FUNGI .3. STRUCTURAL-ANALYSIS OF WATER-SOLUBLE MATERIALS IN LIQUID CULTUREOF CORIOLUS-VERSICOLOR
S. Tsujiyama et al., DEGRADATION OF LIGNIN-CARBOHYDRATE COMPLEX (LCC) BY WOOD-ROTTING FUNGI .3. STRUCTURAL-ANALYSIS OF WATER-SOLUBLE MATERIALS IN LIQUID CULTUREOF CORIOLUS-VERSICOLOR, Mokuzai Gakkaishi, 39(7), 1993, pp. 807-813
When Coriolus versicolor (L.: Fr.) Quel. was incubated in a medium con
taining a water-soluble lignin-carbohydrate complex (LCC-W) as a sole
carbon source, the formation of materials precipitated by acidifying (
pH 2-3) the culture medium was found to start after 10 days of incubat
ion. This precipitated fraction (P-A) was prepared with various incuba
tion times up to 31 days, and its structural changes were investigated
by chemical and spectroscopic analyses. Based on the time course of s
tructural changes of the lignin portion of this fraction, the initial
attack by C. versicolor was the formation of new phenolic hydroxyl gro
ups, which probably was followed by an oxidation reaction to form new
alpha-carbonyl and carboxyl groups. Although the latter reaction could
be explained by the co-operative actions of laccase and other phenolo
xidases, an uncharacterized lignin-degrading system was suggested to e
xist to participate in the former reaction.