. Research for tomorrow's forests : 1983 research accomplishments. --. Forests and forestry Research United States. Products and Engineering First Lignin-Degrading Enzyme Discovered Lignin is the complex natural plastic that cements and stiffens wood fibers. It comprises about 25 percent of wood and, next to cellulose, is the most abundant organic compound on earth. Until now, the biocnemical mechanisms involved in its natural degradation during wood decay were essentially unknown. Researchers at the Forest Products Laboratory, after years of painstaking basic research, have discovered a ligni
. Research for tomorrow's forests : 1983 research accomplishments. --. Forests and forestry Research United States. Products and Engineering First Lignin-Degrading Enzyme Discovered Lignin is the complex natural plastic that cements and stiffens wood fibers. It comprises about 25 percent of wood and, next to cellulose, is the most abundant organic compound on earth. Until now, the biocnemical mechanisms involved in its natural degradation during wood decay were essentially unknown. Researchers at the Forest Products Laboratory, after years of painstaking basic research, have discovered a lignin-degrading enzyme. This enzyme is secreted by a fungus, Phanerochaete chrysosporiurn . one of the organisms causing white-rot decay in wood. Dur- ing degradation, the enzyme causes oxygen from the air to be comoined with lignin, and the result is a partial biological oxidation and subsequent breakdown of the lignin. Discovery of this enzyme opens up possibilities for many applications of biotechnology in wood processing, such as pulping, bleaching pulps, converting lignin to useful chemicals, and cleaning up noxious lignin wastes from pulpmills and papermills. The increased know- ledge of the decay process gained by this research may also lead to biologi- cal methods for controlling wood The discovery of the enzyme that breaks down the lignin in wood will have many Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original United States. Forest Service. [Washington, D. C. ?] : USDA, Forest Service
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