TITLE:
Biodegradation and Sugar Release from Canola Plant Biomass by Selected White Rot Fungi
AUTHORS:
Omoanghe S. Isikhuemhen, Nona A. Mikiashvili, Zachary N. Senwo, Elijah I. Ohimain
KEYWORDS:
Canola Plant Biomass, Bio-Delignification, White Rot Fungi, Lignocellulose
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Biological Chemistry,
Vol.4 No.6,
October
24,
2014
ABSTRACT: Canola crop is rich
in plant biomass. It is considered a major cash crop in North America and a potential
source for biofuel. We evaluated six strains of white rot basidiomycetes under
solid state fermentation (SSF) for their potentials to secrete oxidative and
hydrolytic enzymes to biodegrade canola plant biomass (CPB), and release sugars. Fuscoporia gilva and Pleurotus tuberregium produced high amount of laccase (440.86 U/L
and 480.63 U/L at day 7), as well as carboxylmethylcellulase (CMCase) (4.78
U/mL at day 21 and 3.13 U/mL at day 14) and xylanase (4.48 U/mL and 7.8 U/mL at
day 21), respectively. Bjerkandera adusta showed high amount of MnP
(50.4 U/L) and peroxidase (64.5 U/L), relative to the other strains. Loss of
organic matter peaked after 21 days of incubation in all the tested strains;
however, the best result (34.0%) was shown in P. tuberregium. The highest lignin loss was observed in Coriolopsis
caperata strains. Among the sugar polymers, hemicellulose was highly
degraded by P. tuberregium and P. pulmonarius (4.1% - 4.6%),
while cellulose (3.3% - 4.3%) was mainly degraded by F. gilva and B.
adusta. Glucose was the dominant
sugar released by all the fungi tested, with the highest concentration of 1.25
mg/mL produced by B. adusta at day 14 of incubation. Results indicate
that selected white rot fungi can achieve significant delignification of CPB
within 14 days of solid state fermentation. Their importance in low cost
pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass prior to conversion into biofuels and
bio-products of economic importance is discussed.