Factors Involved in the Regulation of a Ligninase Activity in Phanerochaete chrysosporium

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Abstract
The regulation of an H2O2-dependent ligninolytic activity was examined in the wood decay fungus P. chrysosporium. The ligninase appears in cultures upon limitation for N or carbohydrate and is suppressed by excess nutrients, by cycloheximide or by culture agitation. Activity is increased by idiophasic exposure of cultures to 100% O2. Elevated levels of ligninase and, in some cases, of extracellular H2O2 production are detected after brief incubation of cultures with lignins or lignin substructure models, with the secondary metabolite varatryl alcohol, or with other related compounds. Lignin degradation (lignin .fwdarw. CO2) by this organism is apparently regulated in part at the level of the ligninase, which is apparently inducible by its substrates for their degradation products.