Oxalate decarboxylase, the enzyme that breaks oxalic acid down into formic acid and carbon dioxide, was recently detected in mycelial extracts of the brown-rot fungus Postia placenta. Differential centrifugation was used to demonstrate that the enzyme is loosely associated with the hyphal surface. Enzyme activity can be removed by washing the hyphae with a low pH buffer. Only low levels of activity were detected in soluble and membrane-bound intracellular fractions. The presence of the enzyme on the hyphal surface and possibly in the hyphal sheath supports the hypothesis that this brown-rot fungus actively regulates the pH and oxalic acid concentration of its environment.

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