Wood specimens were colonized by individual isolates of brown rot, white rot, soft rot and blue (sap) stain fungi. Ethyl acetate extracts of the ground wood were analyzed for their iron-reducing capabilities using a ferrozine-based assay. Extracts from wood colonized by brown rot fungi showed a significantly greater iron-reducing capability than extracts from wood colonized by white rot fungi or non-decay fungi. The ability of brown rot fungi to produce compounds, and/or modify the wood components, that reduce iron is of relevance to the “chelator-mediated Fenton mechanism” that has been advanced as a theory in the non-enzymatic degradation of wood by the brown rot fungi.

Download document (128 kb)
free for the members of IRG. Available if purchased.

Purchase this document