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Bioengineering of Value-Added Wood Using the White Rot Fungus Physisporinus vitreus

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Abstract

Over the past 10 years, we have intensively investigated the potential of the white-rot fungus Physisporinus vitreus for engineering value-added wood products. Because of its exceptional wood degradation pattern, i.e., selective lignification without significant wood strength losses and a preferential degradation of bordered pit membranes, it is possible to use this fungus under controlled conditions to improve the acoustic properties of resonance wood (i.e., “mycowood”) as well as to enhance the uptake of preservatives and wood modification substances in refractory wood species (e.g., Norway spruce), a process known as “bioincising.” This chapter summarizes the research that we have performed with P. vitreus and critically discusses the challenges encountered during the development of two distinct processes for engineering value-added wood products. Finally, we peep into the future potential of the bioincising and mycowood processes for additional applications in the forest and wood industry.

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Acknowledgments

We wish to express our gratitude to the CTI (Swiss Innovation Promotion Agency, grant No. 8593.1) and Swiss National 675 Science Foundation (grant No. 205321-121701) for their sustained funding of this work. We would also like to acknowledge the financial support of the Walter Fischli Foundation.

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Correspondence to Francis Willis Mathew Robert Schwarze .

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Schwarze, F.W.M.R., Schubert, M. (2017). Bioengineering of Value-Added Wood Using the White Rot Fungus Physisporinus vitreus . In: Mérillon, JM., Ramawat, K. (eds) Fungal Metabolites. Reference Series in Phytochemistry. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-25001-4_16

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