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Fungal accumulation of metals from building materials during brown rot wood decay

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Abstract

This study analyzes the accumulation and translocation of metal ions in wood during the degradation performed by one strain of each of the three brown rot fungi; Serpula lacrymans, Meruliporia incrassata and Coniophora puteana. These fungi species are inhabitants of the built environment where the prevention and understanding of fungal decay is of high priority. This study focuses on the influence of various building materials in relation to fungal growth and metal uptake. Changes in the concentration of iron, manganese, calcium and copper ions in the decayed wood were analyzed by induced coupled plasma spectroscopy and related to wood weight loss and oxalic acid accumulation. Metal transport into the fungal inoculated wood was found to be dependent on the individual strain/species. The S. lacrymans strain caused a significant increase in total iron whereas the concentration of copper ions in the wood appeared decreased after 10 weeks of decay. Wood inoculated with the M. incrassata isolate showed the contrary tendency with high copper accumulation and low iron increase despite similar weight losses for the two strains. However, significantly lower oxalic acid accumulation was recorded in M. incrassata degraded wood. The addition of a building material resulted in increased weight loss in wood degraded by C. puteana in the soil-block test; however, this could not be directly linked specifically to the accumulation of any of the four metals recorded. The accumulation of oxalic acid seemed to influence the iron uptake. The study assessing the influence of the presence of soil and glass in the soil-block test revealed that soil contributed the majority of the metals for uptake by the fungi and contributed to increased weight loss. The varying uptake observed among the three brown rot fungi strains toward the four metals analyzed may be related to the specific non-enzymatic and enzymatic properties including bio-chelators employed by each of the species during wood decay.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Joan Perkins for valuable help with the ICP analysis. Caitlin L. Howell for assistance with statistical analysis. Jonathan Schilling for critical review and comments on the manuscript. The work was supported by Frimodt-Heineke Fonden, Ingeniør Svend G. Fiedler og Hustrus legat, and by the University of Maine.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wood and Bio Based Materials, Danish Technological Institute, Gregersensvej 1, 2630, Taastrup, Denmark

    Anne Christine Steenkjær Hastrup

  2. Molecular Microbial Ecology Group, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15 Building 1, 2100, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Bo Jensen

  3. Study Performed at School of Biology and Ecology, University of Maine, 311 Hitchner Hall, Orono, ME, 04469, USA

    Anne Christine Steenkjær Hastrup & Jody Jellison

  4. Department of Plant Pathology, Physiology, Weed Science, Virginia Tech, 104-C Hutcheson Hall, Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA

    Jody Jellison

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  1. Anne Christine Steenkjær Hastrup
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  2. Bo Jensen
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Correspondence to Anne Christine Steenkjær Hastrup.

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Communicated by Erko Stackebrandt.

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Hastrup, A.C.S., Jensen, B. & Jellison, J. Fungal accumulation of metals from building materials during brown rot wood decay. Arch Microbiol 196, 565–574 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-014-0993-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-014-0993-z

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