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Wood Deterioration by Terrestrial Microorganisms

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Biodeterioration of Wooden Cultural Heritage

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Abstract

In terrestrial ecosystems the microbial decomposition of wood is caused principally by fungi, opposed to aquatic ecosystems where bacteria degradation predominates. This chapter discusses the deterioration of wooden Cultural Heritage caused by terrestrial basidiomycetes and in particular the decay types of brown and white rot.

The various overlapping terms of terrestrial fungal decay, such as “red rot”, “destruction rot”, “wet rot” or “marble rot” are initially clarified. Following, brown- and white-rot fungi are introduced and several examples of their decay on historical and archaeological timbers are given. Elements of their biology are provided and their distinctly different enzyme systems, which had resulted as a consequence of their evolutionary relationships, are described. Their niche is also considered, with special reference to environmental factors influencing decay, such as wood moisture content, oxygen, temperature and pH.

The residual chemistry of rotted wood is also examined and the different decay mechanisms employed by brown- and white-rot fungi are explicated. The two independent systems of brown rotters, the hydrolytic and the oxidative via Fenton reactions are presented, elucidating the selective removal of wood polysaccharides and the pathways of lignin modification. Similarly, the preferential and the simultaneous delignification of wood caused by white rotters are described and the key enzymatic activities of lignin breakdown, involving LiPs, MnPs, VPs and laccases, or of cellulose decomposition, engaging enzymatic and non-enzymatic pathways are explored.

Ultrastructural aspects of decay are also investigated, where hyphae invasion, penetration and spreading via the radial and the longitudinal cell systems of softwoods and hardwoods, and decay progression within the cell wall layers is demonstrated.

Finally macroscopic diagnostic features, like the cubical cracks of brown rot or the fibrous texture and demarcation lines of white rot are provided and microscopic features related to the topochemistry of decayed wood, along with several diagnostic patterns of decay such as loss of cell walls’ birefringence, erosion zones, pits enlargement and bore holes expansion, are illustrated.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    CAZymes (Carbohydrate-Active enZymes) is a collective term designated to enzymes that build and breakdown complex carbohydrates and glycoconjugates. CAZy (www.cazy.org) is a database of CAZymes (Cantarel et al. 2009).

  2. 2.

    Klason lignin is the insoluble residue after the hydrolytic removal of the polysaccharides from extractive-free wood (Sect. 1.6.5).

  3. 3.

    Demethylation and demethoxylation are commonly used interchangeably; however, oxidative demethylation herein means that formaldehyde is formed, whereas demethoxylation means that methanol is formed from the methoxy group (Ander and Eriksson 1985).

  4. 4.

    DP of hardwoods and softwoods cellulose is in the range of 4000–5500 (Hallac and Ragauskas 2011)

  5. 5.

    Brown-rot fungi do not produce cellobiose dehydrogenase CDH with the only known exception of Coniophora puteana (Baldrian and Valášková 2008).

  6. 6.

    Since in most cases of “selective” white rot, cellulose is also degraded in the late stages, the term “preferential” appears more appropriate (Schmidt 2006).

  7. 7.

    The fungus was first isolated from wood chip piles and was given the name Chrysosporium lignorum which was changed later to Sporotrichum pulverulentum for its imperfect stage. Its current name, Phanerochaete chrysosporium has been designated for its perfect state (Eriksson et al. 1990).

  8. 8.

    Heme is a complex of a ferrous iron ion coordinated to protoporphyrin IX.

  9. 9.

    Trametes versicolor is also known as Coriolus versicolor or Polyporus versicolor (Mycobank Database 2019).

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    Anastasia Pournou

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Pournou, A. (2020). Wood Deterioration by Terrestrial Microorganisms. In: Biodeterioration of Wooden Cultural Heritage. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-46504-9_6

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