Basidiospores from Wood-Decay Fungi Transform Laccase Substrates in the Absence of Glucose and Nitrogen Supplements

Summary

This research examined how mushroom spores can grow and break down complex substances using only their internal resources, similar to how plant seeds can grow initially without external nutrients. This has important implications for understanding fungal ecology and biotechnology applications. Key impacts on everyday life: – Helps explain how mushrooms can colonize and decompose dead plant material in nature – Provides insights for developing more efficient industrial fermentation processes – Could lead to improved mushroom-based technologies for breaking down environmental pollutants – May enable development of new sustainable industrial processes using fungal spores – Demonstrates nature’s efficient resource management strategies that could inspire human technologies

Background

Commercial preparations of bacterial endospores, fungal conidia and spores are used in biocontrol, biocatalysis, and lignocellulose fermentation applications. However, the biocatalytic abilities of basidiospores from mushrooms of the order Agaricales remain unknown, particularly their potential to colonize recalcitrant substrates using only their inherent resources.

Objective

To assess the ability of basidiospores from white-rot fungi to transform laccase substrates independently of external glucose and nitrogen by analyzing their surface-bound and internal resources including carbohydrates, phenols, proteins, minerals and oxidoreductases.

Results

Stru/Kmt spores contained significant internal resources: hexoses (160,000/15,130 mg/kg), pentoses (96,600/6,750 mg/kg), proteins (12,600/924 mg/kg), and phenols (452/767 mg/kg). Surface resources included hexoses (7,300/9,700 mg/kg) and proteins (21/168 mg/kg). Spores germinated at rates <1‰ in deionized water supported by internal resources. Kmt spores showed comparable germination in nitrogen-free solutions of glucose, ABTS and guaiacol. Protein release and oxidoreductase activity was higher in guaiacol-incubated versus glucose-incubated spores.

Conclusion

Basidiospores possess sufficient internal resources to enable germination, enzyme release, and transformation of aromatic compounds without external nutrient supplementation. This confers plant seed-like autonomy during early colonization of inert substrates, providing ecological advantages in colonizing nutrient-poor environments.
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