Clark biologist’s new research probes ‘gray area’ in science of fungal wood decay

Discoveries by a team of fungal researchers, led by the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (DOE JGI and Clark UniversityProfessor of biology David S. Hibbett, were released today (June 23) in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The paper, titled “Extensive sampling of basidiomycete genomes demonstrates inadequacy of the white-rot/brown-rot paradigm for wood decay fungi,” suggests that categorizing wood-decaying fungi as either white rot or brown rot may not be as clear-cut as previously thought. The discovery complicates but also broadens the range of fungal decay strategies to be explored for commercializing the process of biofuels production.

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