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Airborne algae as a wood degradation factor
1992 - IRG/WP 92-1549
The occurrence of airborne (aerophytic) algae on wood is a very frequent phenomenon. However, there is currently a lack of information concerning their effect on the wood tissue. Some important genus of algae infesting wood under natural conditions are listed, as well as the results of experimental studies in the "in vitro" culture concerning the effect of two selected algal species on some physic...
K J Krajewski, J Wazny


Antifungal properties of new quaternary ammonium and imidazolium salts against wood decay, staining and mould fungi
2004 - IRG/WP 04-30347
The biological activity of twenty-four potential wood preservatives – imidazolium and quaternary ammonium salts with a modified anion structure was determined employing screening agar-plate and agar-block methods. Experiments were carried out on Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) wood. The aim of the performed studies was to investigate the effect of structure modification of IC and QAC with organ...
J Zabielska-Matejuk, W Wieczorek


The preliminary characterization of ß-1,4-xylanase of the brown-rot fungus Gloeophyllum trabeum
1990 - IRG/WP 1447
The extracellular ß-1,4-xylanase of the brown-rot fungus, Gloeophyllum trabeum, was isolated from crude extract by chromatofocusing method (PBE 94 column chromatography). The isoelectric point was estimated to 4.2-4.8 by cromatofocusing and 4.5 by isoelectric focusing (IEF). The molecular weight of the enzyme was estimated to 37,000 dalton by SDS-PAGE. The optimal temperature for the crude extrac...
A-C Ritschkoff, M Rättö, L Viikari


Biodegradation of creosote/naphthalene-treated wood in the marine environment
1977 - IRG/WP 428
The present study was undertaken to determine the biodegradability of marine grade creosote and selected components, including naphtalene, and to determine the effectiveness of (up to 40%) creosote in protecting wood from microbial attack. Also, the impact(s) of creosote and naphtalene-enriched creosote on the microbial ecology os estuarine environments was examined....
P A Seesman, R R Colwell, A Zachary, A J Emery


Lignin degradation by wood-degrading fungi
1986 - IRG/WP 1310
The wood-degrading white-rot fungus Phanerochaete chrysosporium, has been the subject of intensive research in recent years and, based upon isolation of the extracelluar enzyme ligninase, major advances have now been made toward elucidating the mechanism by which this fungus degrades lignin. From these developments, a model emerges which could explain the process by which wood-degrading fungi in g...
P J Harvey, H E Schoemaker, J M Palmer


Biodegradation of acetylated southern pine and aspen composition boards
1994 - IRG/WP 94-40020
This objective of this study was to investigate the influence of the acetylation treated wood fiber, Phenol-formaldehyde resin content level, two wood fiber species, three fungi species on the dimensional stability and decay resistence of high density composition boards. A standard ASTM method was used to evaluate weight loss and thickness change. The linear shrinkage and expansion of each species...
P Chow, T Harp, R Meimban, J A Youngquist, R M Powell


Acetylation of lignocellulosic materials
1989 - IRG/WP 3516
A simplified procedure for the acetylation of lignocellulosic materials has been developed. The acetylation is done with a limited amount of liquid acetic anhydride without the addition of a catalyst or an organic co-solvent. Dimensional stability and biological resistance are both much improved by the acetylation. Equilibrium moisture content in acetylated material is considerably lower than in u...
P Larsson, A-M Tillman


The fungal degradation of quaternary ammonium compounds in wood
1998 - IRG/WP 98-10263
This work focuses on the biodegradation of didecyldimethylammonium chloride (DDAC) by the mould fungus Gliocladium roseum within a woody matrix. Three sawdust types, distinguished by their treatment and amount of DDAC retained, were inoculated with the fungus and their DDAC loss was measured over 11 weeks. The rates of degradation varied depending on the sawdust; however, a significant loss of DDA...
J W Dubois, J N R Ruddick


Biochemical relationships between biodegradation of cellulose and formation of oxalic acid in brown-rot wood decay
1991 - IRG/WP 1472
Non-enzymic hydrolysis of cellulose with low concentrations of oxalic acid was examined. The incubation of pine wood pulp with 1% oxalic acid (pH 1.3) at 35°C for 4 weeks reduced the original viscosity to 60%. Reducing sugars were liberated from various cellulosic samples by the oxalic acid treatment. However, crystallinities of cellulose in those samples did not change before and after the treat...
M Shimada, Y Akamatsu, A Ohta, M Takahashi


Biodegradation of wood in wet environments: A review
1997 - IRG/WP 97-10217
Wood in wet environments is attacked and degraded by soft rot fungi and erosion and tunnelling bacteria, which are more tolerant to high moisture and reduced oxygen conditions than basidiomycetes, such as white and brown rot fungi. Since basidiomycetes are normally more aggressive and can degrade wood faster than soft rot fungi and bacteria wood in wet environments can survive longer. In fact, arc...
A P Singh, Yoon Soo Kim


Isolation of soil borne bacteria and fungi from treated timber
2001 - IRG/WP 01-50174
Most research in the last few decades has focused on the development of new strategies to control biological attack and the means to quantify this. Comparatively little work has been done to examine the effect that treated timber might have on its surrounding environment. This presentation will describe a methodology that attempts to detect any changes which might occur in the soil microflora foll...
I Stephan, A Stegemann, G Heidrich


Enhanced biodegradation of cocopeat by soft rot fungi
1998 - IRG/WP 98-10276
Biodegradation of cocopeat (coir dust) was enhanced by the addition of nitrogen (N) fertilizer and inoculation with the soft rot fungus Chaetomium globosum. The N and fungally treated cocopeats had a greater percentage weight loss (27%) after 3 months compared with 7% weight loss without the added fungi and N fertilizer. In addition, their hemicellulose, cellulose and lignin contents were greatly ...
P Y Yau, R J Murphy


Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy (CLSM) of decayed wood
1998 - IRG/WP 98-10273
Confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) is currently being used to examine biodegraded wood and is proving to be a useful new technique in this area of work. Non-invasive optical sectioning within a thick specimen (20 - 50 µm), coupled with post image processing techniques allows manipulation of images and 3-D reconstruction from serial sections. Glutaraldehyde can cause cell autofluorescence,...
Ying Xiao, R N Wakeling, A P Singh


Aspects of the fungal degradation of quaternary ammonium compounds in liquid culture
1997 - IRG/WP 97-30160
Didecyldimethylammonium chloride (DDAC) is a quaternary ammonium compound (QAC) that has found use as an anti-sapstain preservative for the transportation of softwood lumber from Canada to overseas markets. However, its use is limited by the knowledge that certain mould fungi seem capable of degrading it. The aim of this research was to gain knowledge about the fungal degradation of DDAC. The effe...
J W Dubois, J N R Ruddick


Bioremediation of surfactant contaminated waste
1996 - IRG/WP 96-50070
The objective of this work was to determine the potential of fungi as agents for the bioremediation of wastes (particularly wood and soil) contaminated with quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs). Until now only bacteria have been investigated for this purpose. Tolerant strains of Gliocladium roseum and Verticillium bulbillosum were studied for their ability to degrade the following QACs: didecyldim...
J L Bürgel, J Dubois, J N R Ruddick


Fungal siderophores and their rôle in wood biodegradation
1990 - IRG/WP 1442
Iron and other metals such as manganese, play an important role in the metabolic functions of fungi that cause wood deterioration. These transition metals are also found in, or associated with, the extracellular fungal enzymes shown to be directly involved in the decay process. Recently our research group was able to show that siderophores (low molecular weight biological chelators) are produced b...
J Jellison, B Goodell, F Fekete, V Chandhoke


Micromorphology of decay in Keruing heartwood by the basidiomycetes Phellinus contiguus and Dacrymyces stillatus
2002 - IRG/WP 02-10454
This study aimed to characterise the micromorphology of fungal decay in a wooden handrailing in an above ground exposure at the Thames embankment in London. Keruing heartwood (Dipterocarpus spp.) was determined as the construction timber and the two basidiomycetes Phellinus contiguus and Dacrymyces stillatus identified as main decay organisms. Their decay patterns within Keruing heartwood were...
G Kleist, M Ray, R J Murphy


Evidence for actinomycete degradation of wood cell walls
1990 - IRG/WP 1444
Several unique patterns of degradation occurring in wood cell walls have been observed in wooden stakes inserted in unsterile soil in the laboratory. Some of the patterns have also been observed in coniferous wood taken from forest floors. All the observed attack types occur within wood cell walls, mainly within the S2 layer. Attack is characterised by channels of varying diameter or small fusifor...
T Nilsson, G F Daniel, S L Bardage


The production of extracellular hydrogen peroxide by some brown-rot fungi
1990 - IRG/WP 1446
The role of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) has been discussed in the degradation of wood by wood-rotting fungi. The production of extracellular hydrogen peroxide was studied by detecting the oxidation of the chromogen 2,2'-azinobis(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) (ABTS) by H2O2 and horse radish peroxidase (HPR). ABTS and HPR were added to a solid wood based culture media. In this study ...
A-C Ritschkoff, L Paajanen, L Viikari


The effects of preservative treatment and exposure to wood degrading fungi on fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) materials used for structural wood reinforcement
2001 - IRG/WP 01-40204
Glass fiber reinforced phenolic (GFRP) composite materials are becoming increasingly accepted for use in the construction industry because they combine advantages of both wood and advanced polymeric materials. Addition of only 1-3% FRP in the tension zone, for example, can typically improve the strength of the hybrid system by 200%. As more applications are found for wood/FRP hybrids, (e.g. lamina...
C Tascioglu, B Goodell


Development and Implementation of a DNA – RFLP Database for Wood Decay and Wood Associated Fungi
2004 - IRG/WP 04-10527
We are developing Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP) and Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS) sequence databases for wood decay basidiomycetes and other fungi associated with wood. These databases currently house information for 39 fungal species consisting of 9 brown-rot basidiomycetes, 12 white rot basidiomycetes, 1 soft rot, 1 stain fungi, and 16 molds or other ascomycetes or imperfe...
S V Diehl, T C McElroy, M L Prewitt


Nondestructive assessment of biodegradation in southern pine sapwood exposed to attack by natural populations of decay fungi and subterranean termites
1994 - IRG/WP 94-20042
Field methods for evaluating decay resistance of experimentally treated materials lack a means for quantitative measurement of residual strength. Quantitative relationships between speed of impact-induced waves travelling parallel to the grain and residual compressive strength have been demonstrated in softwood attacked by brown rot-decay fungi, but the effects of termites have not been documented...
R C De Groot, R J Ross, W Nelson


Screening of fungal strains for wood extractive degradation
1998 - IRG/WP 98-10254
Fungal strains were screened for their ability to degrade apolar extractives in wood from scots pine. The degradation of total wood extractives by 91 different strains was monitored in stationary batch assays incubated for 6 weeks. The results obtained show that the ability of wood-inhabiting fungi to utilize wood extractives varied greatly, even for different isolates of the same species. Fungal ...
J Dorado, M J Martinez-Inigo, T A van Beek, F W Claassen, J B P A Wijnberg, R Sierra-Alvarez


Production of monoclonal antibodies to fungal metabolites
1986 - IRG/WP 1306
The role of fungal extracellular enzymes in wood biodegradation is incompletely understood. Our lab is beginning a project utilizing monoclonal antibodies to characterize extracellular metabolites of the brown rot fungus Poria placenta Fr. (Cooke). Monoclonal antibody technology takes advantage of the ability of antibody secreting spleen cells from immunized mice to fuse in the presence of polyeth...
J Jellison, B Goodell


Inhibition of the biodegradation of coniferous and broadleaved wood by new imidazolium salts
2003 - IRG/WP 03-30320
Studies were carried out on fungicidal values of fourteen potential wood preservatives – modified quaternary heteroaromatic compounds using the screening agar-block. The vacuum treated blocks (22mm x 17mm x 12mm) of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.), spruce (Picea excelsa L.), beech (Fagus silvatica L.) and birch (Betula verrucosa Ehrh.) with testing compounds were exposed to Coniophota puteana a...
J Zabielska-Matejuk, J Pernak, W Wieczorek


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