No uptake of C60 fullerene carbon during fungal decay experiments

GEOC 34

Scott Shepherd, bshepher@purdue.edu1, Timothy R. Filley, filley@purdue.edu1, Robert Blanchette, robertb@puccini.crl.umn.edu2, and Mi-Youn Ahn, mahn@purdue.edu1. (1) Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Purdue University, 550 Stadium Mall Dr, West Lafayette, IN 47907, (2) Department of Plant Pathology, University of Minnesota, 495 Borlaug Hall, 1991 Upper Buford Circle, St. Paul, Minnesota, 55108-6030
Fullerenes (C60 and C70) are present in the environment from both manufactured and natural sources. We sought to investigate how common fungi alter the chemistry and possibly metabolize these compounds. To that end experiments where 13C-labeled C60 added to wood wafers and mixed into growth media and inoculated with different fungi were conducted. The study included brown and white rot basidiomycete (Gleophyllum trabeum, Trametes versicolor, Fomitopsis pinicola, Phlebia tremullosa) as well as an ascomycete (Cadophora malorum) fungus. These experiments were run for 16 weeks and the hyphae sampled and analyzed for uptake of 13C overtime. Differences in the stable carbon isotope composition of hyphae were evident among the fungal groups but non of the fungi exhibited enrichment of 13C with respect to controls. This indicates no metabolism of the fullerene carbon. Given the oxidative nature of the lignin and cellulose degrading systems employed by the fungi, changes to the fullerene chemistry through hydroxylation or ring cleavage are currently being investigated.
 

General Poster Session
7:00 PM-9:00 PM, Sunday, 10 September 2006 Moscone Center -- Hall D, Poster

Division of Geochemistry

The 232nd ACS National Meeting, San Francisco, CA, September 10-14, 2006