Lignocellulose degradation by Fusarium species

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Abstract
Eighteen strains of fungi in the genus Fusarium, including varieties of F. episphaeria, F. lateritium, F. moniliforme, F. nivale, F. oxysporum, F. rigidiusculum, F. roseum, F. solani, and F. tricinctum, slowly degraded lignocelluloses from blue spruce (Picea pungens) and wheat (Triticum aestivum). When grown with [lignin-14C]lignocellulose from blue spruce, 15 of the Fusarium strains converted 2.2 to 4.3% of the [14C]lignin in 60 days to 14CO2 and 3.9 to 8.4% to labeled water-soluble products. When grown with unlabeled lignocellulose from wheat straw, the strains caused total weight losses in 60 days of 7 to 25%, acid-insoluble (Klason) lignin losses of 2 to 17%, and carbohydrate losses of 3 to 33%. Crude protein contents of degraded wheat-straw lignocellulose samples were 3.2 to 5.1%. Among the aromatic degradation products from wheat-straw lignocellulose degraded by different strains, as shown by gas chromatography, were p-coumaric acid, vanillic acid, vanillin, syringaldehyde, and p-hydroxybenzaldehyde.