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Appl Environ Microbiol. 1990 November; 56(11): 3450-3457
Copyright © 1990, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Chloromethane, Methyl Donor in Veratryl Alcohol Biosynthesis in Phanerochaete chrysosporium and Other Lignin-Degrading Fungi

David B. Harper^*, John A. Buswell, James T. Kennedy and John T. G. Hamilton

¹ Department of Food and Agricultural Chemistry, The Queen's University of Belfast, ^1* and Food and Agricultural Chemistry Research Division, Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland, ² Newforge Lane, Belfast BT9 5PX, Northern Ireland, and Department of Biology, Paisley College of Technology, Paisley PA1 2BE, Scotland, ³ United Kingdom

ABSTRACT

Chloromethane, a gaseous natural product implicated in methylation processes in Phellinus pomaceus, has been shown to act as methyl donor in veratryl alcohol biosynthesis in the lignin-degrading fungi Phanerochaete chrysosporium, Phlebia radiata, and Coriolus versicolor, none of which released detectable amounts of CH₃Cl during growth. When P. chrysosporium was grown in a medium containing C²H₃Cl, levels of C²H₃ incorporation into the 3- and 4-O-methyl groups of veratryl alcohol were very high and initially similar to those observed when the medium was supplemented with L-[methyl-²H₃]methionine. When C²H₃Cl was added to cultures actively synthesizing veratryl alcohol, incorporation of C²H₃ was very rapid, with 81% of veratryl alcohol labeled after 12 h. By contrast, incorporation of C²H₃ from L-[methyl-²H₃]methionine was comparatively slow, attaining 10% after 12 h. It is proposed that these lignin-degrading fungi possess a tightly channeled multienzyme system in which CH₃Cl biosynthesis is closely coupled to CH₃Cl utilization for methylation of veratryl alcohol precursors.

^* Corresponding author.

Present address: Department of Biology, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Saxena, D., Aouad, S., Attieh, J., Saini, H. S. (1998). Biochemical Characterization of Chloromethane Emission from the Wood-Rotting Fungus Phellinus pomaceus. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 64: 2831-2835 [Abstract] [Full Text]