White‐rot fungus Phlebia floridensis ITM 12: Laccase production, oxidoreductase profile, and hydrogen‐peroxide independent activity

Abstract

Phlebia genus is a relevant group of fungi with a crucial role in numerous ecosystems. In tropical and subtropical areas this genus allows the efficient degradation of lignin and carbon recovery; however, the majority of these fungal species remain undiscovered. The main purpose of this work was to determine the enzymatic activity of extracellular proteins of a novel Phlebia floridensis strain isolated in Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. The results that are reported here demonstrate that the soluble protein extract of P. floridensis can degrade a broad spectrum of recalcitrant compounds. This induced protein extract is able to modify not only phenolic and nonphenolic compounds, but also anthroquinone dyes, even without the addition of exogenous hydrogen peroxide. Using liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC‐MS), we were able to identify a novel chloroperoxidase in enzymatic extract. As far as we know, this is the first report about the presence of this type of enzyme in the Phlebia genus.