Skip to Main Content
U.S. Forest Service
Caring for the land and serving people

United States Department of Agriculture

Home > Search > Publication Information

  1. Acridine Orange Indicates Early Oxidation of Wood Cell Walls by Fungi

    Share via EmailShare on FacebookShare on LinkedInShare on Twitter
    Dislike this pubLike this pub
    Author(s): Carl J. Houtman; Peter Kitin; Jon C. D. Houtman; Kenneth E. Hammel; Christopher G. Hunt
    Date: 2016
    Source: PLOS ONE
    Publication Series: Scientific Journal (JRNL)
    Station: Forest Products Laboratory
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0159715
    PDF: Download Publication  (15.0 MB)

    Description

    Colonization of wood blocks by brown and white rot fungi rapidly resulted in detectable wood oxidation, as shown by a reduced phloroglucinol response, a loss of autofluorescence, and acridine orange (AO) staining. This last approach is shown to provide a novel method for identifying wood oxidation. When lignin was mildly oxidized, the association between AO and lignin was reduced such that stained wood sections emitted less green light during fluorescence microscopy. This change was detectable after less than a week, an interval that past work has shown to be too short for significant delignification of wood. Although fungal hyphae were observed in only a few wood lumina, oxidation was widespread, appearing relatively uniform over regions several hundred micrometers from the hyphae. This observation suggests that both classes of fungi release low molecular weight mild oxidants during the first few days of colonization.

    Publication Notes

    • We recommend that you also print this page and attach it to the printout of the article, to retain the full citation information.
    • This article was written and prepared by U.S. Government employees on official time, and is therefore in the public domain.

    Citation

    Houtman, Carl J.; Kitin, Peter; Houtman, Jon C. D.; Hammel, Kenneth E.; Hunt, Christopher G. 2016. Acridine orange indicates early oxidation of wood cell walls by fungi. PLOS ONE. 11(7). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0159715 19 p.

    Cited

    Google Scholar

    Keywords

    Lignin, Oxidation, Fungi, Fluorescence microscopy, Cellulose, Fluorescence, Fluorescence imaging

    Related Search

    XML: View XML
Show More
Show Fewer
Jump to Top of Page
https://www.fs.usda.gov/treesearch/pubs/52578