Production of Phenol Oxidases and Peroxidases by Wood-Rotting Fungi

Quantitative studies of extracellular phenol oxidase and peroxidase production by eight species of wood-rotting fungi were performed. Coriolus versicolor, Phellinus igniarius and Lycoperdon sp. exhibited high lacease activities. Phanerochaete chrysosporium and Piptoporus betulinus produced Mn-dependent peroxidase, while Chaetomium piluliferum and C. cellulolyticum expressed low peroxidase activities. In Lenzites trabea, we did not find any extracellular oxidase or peroxidase activity. For P. igniarius and C. versicolor (one isolate) maximum specific activity of laccase was observed in trophophase, and in P. chrysosporium, maximum specific Mn-dependent peroxidase activity was observed in idiophase. We noticed marked differences in phenol oxidase activities between two strains of C. versicolor, one of them recently isolated and the other from ATCC. This result suggests that fungi can lose their abilities for enzyme production when cultured for long periods of time. Under our experimental conditions ligninase activity was not found in any of the species studied.