Production of Fungal Protoplasts from Selected Wood-Degrading Fungi

Studies of the effects of various chemicals on fungal growth are difficult to perform on filamentous fungi because of the difficulty of observing the protoplasm through the rigid hyphal wall, and because most activity occurs in the region near the hyphal lip. However, hyphae can be exposed to certain enzymes that degrade the cell walls, producing protoplasts. There are few reports of protoplast production from economically important wood decayers. In this report, protoplasts were produced from hyphae of the common wood-degrading fungi Phanerochaete chrysosporium, Postia placenta, Gloeophyllum trabeum , and Trametes versicolor with a commercially prepared mixture of cell-wall degrading enzymes (Novozyme 234). Protoplasts were more readily produced from young hyphac; however, regeneration was better with older hyphae. Magnesium sulfate and mannitol (0.5 M) performed comparably well as osmotic stabilizers.