2012/06/28 by Dimitrios Floudas, Manfred Binder, Robert Riley +68 · 5 citations
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Enzyme-mediated dye degradation #Mycorrhizal Fungi and Plant Interactions #Microbial Metabolism and Applications
paper · doi:10.1126/science.1221748
openalex publication_date 2012/06/28 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/02
Wood is a major pool of organic carbon that is highly resistant to decay, owing largely to the presence of lignin. The only organisms capable of substantial lignin decay are white rot fungi in the Agaricomycetes, which also contains non-lignin-degrading brown rot and ectomycorrhizal species. Comparative analyses of 31 fungal genomes (12 generated for this study) suggest that lignin-degrading peroxidases expanded in the lineage leading to the ancestor of the Agaricomycetes, which is reconstructed as a white rot species, and then contracted in parallel lineages leading to brown rot and mycorrhizal species. Molecular clock analyses suggest that the origin of lignin degradation might have coincided with the sharp decrease in the rate of organic carbon burial around the end of the Carboniferous period.