A novel metadata analysis approaches for analyzing and understanding wood-decaying mechanisms exhibited by fungi

Abstract

Fuel has become an essential commodity in our day to day life. Increase in global population and decreasing fuel reserves have forced mankind to look for other fuel alternatives. Forest biomass serves as a potential renewable resource for substituting the conventional fossil-based fuels. In the last few decades, several chemical, physical and microbial based methods were being developed for the breakdown and conversion of lignocellulosic components to commercially valuable products including bioethanol and other platform chemicals. The separation of lignocellulosic biomass plays a significant role in conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to ethanol and other valuable products respectively. Naturally, lignocellulosic components are arranged in intricate networks leading to its high recalcitrance nature. Over years research groups around the world have isolated and characterized several lignocellulose degrading microorganims. Naturally, fungi play a crucial role in maintaining the geo-carbon cycle by decaying all the dead organic matter on the earth’s surface. Majority of the wood-decaying fungi are grouped under Basidiomycota division. Based on their decay patterns the basidiomycetous fungi were classified into white-rot, brown-rot and soft-rot fungi. Understanding these natural fungal decaying mechanisms will benefit the growing biofuel, biorefining and bioremediation industries.