Event Date
Mushroom fungi are saprotrophic organisms dominating the forest ecosystem's carbon turnover processes. Some of them that colonize trees evolved distinctive mechanisms to efficiently disrupt the inert structures of lignocellulose in woody biomass, unlocking and utilizing carbon sources for cellular building blocks and energy metabolisms. Their degradative systems are thereby thought of as containing novel biocatalysts pursued by biorefineries. However, the genetic basis contributing to this high fungal efficiency of plant biomass degradation remains unclear. This presentation will discuss our recent processes in understanding the genetics of wood decomposition in fungi. A collective of tools/methods we renovated or developed for studying the unique bio-processes of higher, basidiomycete fungi will also be introduced.
Hosted by Dr. Jiwei Zhang - University of Minnesota