title: Acridine Orange Indicates Early Oxidation of Wood Cell Walls by Fungi.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: USDA Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory, One Gifford Pinchot Drive, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America.
authors.forename: Carl J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Houtman
authors.affiliation: Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kitin
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, United States of America.
authors.forename: Jon C D
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Houtman
authors.affiliation: USDA Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory, One Gifford Pinchot Drive, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America.|Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America.
authors.forename: Kenneth E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Hammel
authors.affiliation: USDA Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory, One Gifford Pinchot Drive, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America.
authors.forename: Christopher G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Hunt
mesh_terms: D000165:Acridine Orange / Q000378:metabolism*; D002473:Cell Wall / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000382:microbiology*; D005658:Fungi; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D014934:Wood / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D000165:Acridine Orange