Canadian Forest Service Publications
Modes of cell-wall degradation of Sphagnum fuscum by Acremonium cf. curvalum and oidiodendron maius. 2001. Tsuneda, A.; Thormann, M.N.; Currah, R.S. Canadian Journal of Botany 79(1): 93-100.
Year: 2001
Issued by: Northern Forestry Centre
Catalog ID: 18549
Language: English
Availability: Order paper copy (free), PDF (request by e-mail)
Abstract
Electron microscopy of cryo-fractured hyaline leaf cells of Sphagnum fuscum Klinggr. revealed that their cell walls consist of three layers: a thick central layer flanked on either side by a thinner, amorphous layer. Acremonium cf. curvulum W. Gams and Oidiodendron maius Barron, both isolated from partly decomposed S. fuscum plants, were capable of degrading leaf cell walls of Sphagnum. Where hyphae of A. curvulum accumulated, the amorphous, outer wall layer of S. fuscum was first fragmented and then removed. The exposed central wall layer consisted of bundles of microfibrils embedded in an amorphous matrix material. After the matrix material and the inner surface wall layer were mostly removed, degradation of microfibrils occurred and localized voids were produced. Unlike A. cf. curvulum, O. maius degraded all wall components more or less simultaneously. In both fungi, active and autolysing hyphae frequently occurred in proximity on the Sphagnum leaves.