Catabolism of brown coal macromolecules by the white-rot fungus Phanerochaete chrysosporium

摘要

Native and methylated macromolecules from Morwell brown coal were decolourised by lignin peroxidase (LiP) from Phanerochaete chrysosporium in reactions which had an absolute requirement for veratryl alcohol and H_2O_2. Decolourisation did not occur in the presence of metavanadate which inhibits LiP or when LiP was heat-inactivated. LiP also depolymerised macromolecules which had been methylated, reducing the modal apparent relative molecular mass of the coal fraction from 81,000 to 62,000 and yielding aromatic products with M_r < 350. The results suggest that LiP may have utility in processing coal into useful organic chemicals.