Assessment of wood degradation by Pycnoporus sanguineus when co-cultured with selected fungi

In this study the natural yeast populations on fruiting bodies of Pycnoporus sanguineus were characterized using restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis. The majority of the yeasts on these structures belonged to the ascomycetous species, Pichia guilliermondii while the rest were representatives of the basidiomycetous species Rhodotorula glutinis. The impact of these yeasts, as well as the pioneer fungus Aspergillus flavipes, on wood degradation by P. sanguineus was then determined by analyzing the major wood components after growth of co-cultures on Eucalyptus grandis wood chips. Standard protocols, commonly used by the paper and pulp industry, were employed to measure several parameters of the wood. Box plots were used for univariat descriptions of the data, while an analysis-of-distance (AOD) biplot revealed the multidimensional characteristics of the data. The results indicated that the yeasts had no effect on degradation of E. grandis wood chips by P. sanguineus, while the presence of A. flavipes impacted on the chemical composition of the residual wood chips.