Investigation of the response of wood-rotting fungi to copper stress by size-exclusion chromatography and capillary zone electrophoresis with ICP MS detection

Abstract.

A method based on the coupling of size-exclusion chromatography (SEC) with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP MS) was developed for screening the changes in the bioligand composition of wood-rotting fungi as a function of their exposure to copper stress. Strains of four different species of wood-rotting fungi: Phanerochaete chrysosporium, Schizophyllum commune, Daedalea quercina and Pleurotus ostreatus were examined. Only one, namely Ph. chrysosporium, showed any significant difference in terms of the fingerprint of Cu-binding ligands between control and exposed cells which suggest trapping of Cu(II) by cell walls as the only resistance mechanisms. In the case of Ph. chrysosporium the bioinduction of a new Cu-binding ligand was demonstrated. The presence of a new compound in the SE chromatographic fraction of interest was confirmed by CZE–ICP MS. Attempts to identify the new compound by electrospray MS/MS failed because of insufficient sensitivity.