Brown rot gene expression and regulation in acetylated and furfurylated wood: a complex picture

Abstract

Abstract The aim of this study was to investigate Rhodonia placenta expression patterns of genes involved in the depolymerisation during the non-enzymatic phase in acetylated (WAc) and furfurylated wood (WFA). During the 98-day-long exposure, WAc [22.6% weight per cent gain (WPG) on average] and WFA (69% WPG on average) lost no more than 3% mass while the untreated wood (WUn) reached 41% mass loss (ML) in 55 days. Expression of six genes putatively involved in the non-enzymatic degradation process were investigated. In conclusion, expression levels of alcohol oxidase Ppl118723 (AlOx1) and laccase Ppl111314 (Lac) were significantly higher in the modified wood materials (WMod) than in WUn, which is in accordance with previous results and may be explained by the absence of the degradation products that have been proposed to down-regulate the non-enzymatic degradation process. However, copper radical oxidase Ppl156703 (CRO1) and a putative quinate transporter Ppl44553 (PQT) were expressed at significantly lower levels in WMod than in WUn while quinone reductase Ppl124517 (QRD) and glucose oxidase Ppl108489 (GOx) were expressed at similar levels as in WUn. These results suggest that gene regulation in WMod is more complex than a general up-regulation of genes involved in the non-enzymatic degradation phase.