Premium
Experimental approach to follow the spatiotemporal wood degradation in fungal microcosms
Author(s) -
Hahn Felix,
Ullrich René,
Hofrichter Martin,
Liers Christiane
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
biotechnology journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.144
H-Index - 84
eISSN - 1860-7314
pISSN - 1860-6768
DOI - 10.1002/biot.201200183
Subject(s) - microcosm , aeration , mineralization (soil science) , beech , degradation (telecommunications) , carbon dioxide , fungal growth , fermentation , bioreactor , incubation , pulp and paper industry , environmental science , respiration , chemistry , environmental chemistry , botany , biology , food science , soil water , soil science , organic chemistry , computer science , engineering , telecommunications , biochemistry
To investigate the spatiotemporal growth dynamics in fungal microcosms and to follow the spatial degradation effects of fungal lignocellulose fermentation, a new and flexible experimental setup was developed and tested. White and brown rot fungi were cultivated under solid‐state conditions in beech wood‐filled silicon tubes for 5 weeks. After inoculation of wood material at one end of the tube, the culture vessels were aerated and moistured by flushing air through alkaline and aqueous solutions. After incubation, the silicon tubes were harvested and segmented to follow different growth and degradation parameters. This new approach holds great potential since it allows the use of different growth substrates, variable aeration or moisturization conditions and is therefore a useful tool for diverse degradation studies, e.g. respiration/mineralization studies involving flow meters or carbon dioxide sensors or for molecular biological approaches.