Dissecting the mechanisms of copper-azole wood preservatives detoxification by ligninolytic fungi.

Copper-azole based formulations have been widely used to protect wood timbers against fungal decay. While these treatments are efficient for wood protection, leaching of both copper and azoles into the environment has deleterious impact on soils and surface waters. No bioremediation process is currently available for disposable of these wood wastes.

3D Printing of Wood Composites: State of the Art and Opportunities.

With the production of wood waste constantly on the increase, questions relating to its recycling and reuse are becoming unavoidable. The reuse of wood and its derivatives can be achieved through the production of composite materials, using wood as a reinforcement or even as the main matrix of the material. Additive manufacturing (also known as 3D printing) is an emerging and very promising process, particularly with the use of bio-based and renewable materials such as wood or its industrial derivatives.

Modification of the chemical composition and the natural durability of Avicennia germinans mangrove tree of the estuary region of Gabon exposed to marine hydrocarbons pollution.

Mangroves is an ecosystem which plays an economical role in Gabon for its watercourses where are used for fishing and marine traffic or as little bin for garbage and waste water disposal. These bad practices destroy that fragile ecosystem, perturbing like this carbon sequestration and biodiversity protection. Hence, the impact of the anthropogenic pollution stress of fishing engine oils so called hydrocarbons pollution on the chemical, microstructure and natural durability of Avicennia.

Microwave-Assisted Synthesis of Pd Nanoparticles into Wood Block (Pd@wood) as Efficient Catalyst for 4-Nitrophenol and Cr(VI) Reduction.

Palladium (Pd) nanoparticle catalysis has attracted increasing attention due to its efficient catalytic activity and its wide application in environmental protection and chemical synthesis. In this work, Pd nanoparticles (about 71 nm) were synthesized in aqueous solution by microwave-assisted thermal synthesis and immobilized in beech wood blocks as Pd@wood catalysts. The wood blocks were first hydrothermally treated with 10% NaOH solution to improve the internal structure and increase their porosity, thereby providing favorable attachment sites for the formed Pd nanoparticles.

Visualization of Fungi During Wood Colonization and Decomposition by Microscopy: From Light to Electron Microscopy.

Fungi are the principal decomposers of wood together with xylophage insects and, as such, have a central role in nutrient cycling of forest ecosystems. These fungi are also envisaged as promising tools for converting wood and waste of wood industries into chemicals, as alternative to fossil chemicals. At the same time, wood decomposers pose a threat to wooden building materials and are intensively fought.

Comparative Copper Resistance Strategies of and in a Copper/Azole-Treated Wood Microcosm.

Copper-based formulations of wood preservatives are widely used in industry to protect wood materials from degradation caused by fungi. Wood treated with preservatives generate toxic waste that currently cannot be properly recycled. Despite copper being very efficient as an antifungal agent against most fungi, some species are able to cope with these high metal concentrations.

Cascading Recycling of Wood Waste: A Review.

Wood is an increasingly demanded renewable resource and an important raw material for construction and materials. In addition, new consumption habits are leading to the production of ever greater volumes of waste wood, which constitutes a feedstock that can be mobilized for the cascade production of new materials such as particleboard. However, current legislation and wood waste recycling processes need to be improved in order to maximize the volumes that can be reused and to upgrade the properties of the recycled wood.

Correction: Morphological Characterization and Quantification of the Mycelial Growth of the Brown-Rot Fungus Postia placenta for Modeling Purposes.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.

Bacteria alone establish the chemical basis of the wood-fall chemosynthetic ecosystem in the deep-sea.

Wood-fall ecosystems host chemosynthetic bacteria that use hydrogen sulfide as an electron donor. The production of hydrogen sulfide from decaying wood in the deep-sea has long been suspected to rely on the activity of wood-boring bivalves, Xylophaga spp. However, recent mesocosm experiments have shown hydrogen sulfide production in the absence of wood borers.

Whole-cell biosensor of cellobiose and application to wood decay detection.

Fungal biodegradation of wood is one of the main threats regarding its use as a material. So far, the detection of this decaying process is empirically assessed by loss of mass, when the fungal attack is advanced and woody structure already damaged. Being able to detect fungal attack on wood in earlier steps is thus of special interest for the wood economy.

Morphological Characterization and Quantification of the Mycelial Growth of the Brown-Rot Fungus Postia placenta for Modeling Purposes.

Continuous observation was performed using confocal laser scanning microscopy to visualize the three-dimensional microscopic growth of the brown-rot fungus, Postia placenta, for seventeen days. The morphological characterization of Postia placenta was quantitatively determined, including the tip extension rate, branch angle and branching length, (hyphal length between two adjacent branch sites). A voxel method has been developed to measure the growth of the biomass.

Insights into plant plasma membrane aquaporin trafficking.

Plasma membrane intrinsic proteins (PIPs) are plant aquaporins that facilitate the diffusion of water and small uncharged solutes through the cell membrane. Deciphering the network of interacting proteins that modulate PIP trafficking to and activity in the plasma membrane is essential to improve our knowledge about PIP regulation and function. This review highlights the most recent advances related to PIP subcellular routing and dynamic redistribution, identifies some key molecular interacting proteins, and indicates exciting directions for future research in this field.

Selective regulation of maize plasma membrane aquaporin trafficking and activity by the SNARE SYP121.

Plasma membrane intrinsic proteins (PIPs) are aquaporins facilitating the diffusion of water through the cell membrane. We previously showed that the traffic of the maize (Zea mays) PIP2;5 to the plasma membrane is dependent on the endoplasmic reticulum diacidic export motif. Here, we report that the post-Golgi traffic and water channel activity of PIP2;5 are regulated by the SNARE (for soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor protein attachment protein receptor) SYP121, a plasma membrane resident syntaxin involved in vesicle traffic, signaling, and regulation of K(+) channels.

A conserved cysteine residue is involved in disulfide bond formation between plant plasma membrane aquaporin monomers.

AQPs (aquaporins) are conserved in all kingdoms of life and facilitate the rapid diffusion of water and/or other small solutes across cell membranes. Among the different plant AQPs, PIPs (plasma membrane intrinsic proteins), which fall into two phylogenetic groups, PIP1 and PIP2, play key roles in plant water transport processes. PIPs form tetramers in which each monomer acts as a functional channel.

Role of mitochondria in the response of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi to strigolactones.

The plant signals strigolactones activate seed germination of the parasitic weeds (Striga and Orobanche), growth of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi and have recently been described as a new class of plant hormones that inhibit shoot branching. In AM fungi, the synthetic strigolactone analogue GR24 rapidly stimulates mitochondrial metabolism (within minutes) and biogenesis (within one hour). New gene expression, more active nuclear division and cell proliferation occur later (within days).

GR24, a synthetic analog of strigolactones, stimulates the mitosis and growth of the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Gigaspora rosea by boosting its energy metabolism.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are obligate biotrophs that participate in a highly beneficial root symbiosis with 80% of land plants. Strigolactones are trace molecules in plant root exudates that are perceived by AM fungi at subnanomolar concentrations. Within just a few hours, they were shown to stimulate fungal mitochondria, spore germination, and branching of germinating hyphae.