A library of fifteen commercially purchased and synthetic fluorogenic probes were employed for the investigation of biomass degradation using extract of white-rot fungi. These probes were selected or designed to mimic the dominant linkages in celluloses, hemicelluloses and lignin, three most abundant polymers found in biomass. The results show that white rot fungi display high preference for cleaving mannose-, xylose- and glucose-based probes, which mimic hemicelluloses. Little cleavages were noted for cellobiose-based probes, which mimic celluloses. No cleavage was observed for probes that mimic the linkages in lignin. Overall, these discoveries prove that it is possible to employ fungi for selective degradation or releasing hemicelluloses from biomass.

Synthesis of fluorogenic probes for selective biomass degradation by fungi

249th National Meeting (2015)

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