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Chloromethane production by wood-rotting fungi and an estimate of the global flux to the atmosphere

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 1998

ROY WATLING  and
DAVID B. HARPER
ROY WATLING
Affiliation:
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 20A Inverleith Row, Edinburgh, EH3 5LR, U.K.
DAVID B. HARPER
Affiliation:
Microbial Biochemistry Section, Department of Food Science, The Queen's University of Belfast, Newforge Lane, Belfast, BT9 5PX, U.K. Food Science Division, Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland, Newforge Lane, Belfast, BT9 5PX, U.K.
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Abstract

The production of chloromethane (CH3Cl) by wood rotting fungi of the Hymenochaetaceae is discussed with particular emphasis on emissions by species of Phellinus and Inonotus. Recent work on the metabolic role of CH3Cl as a methyl donor in the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites both in the Hymenochaetaceae and other families of white-rot fungi is reviewed. The parameters affecting the fungal emissions of CH3Cl in forest ecosystems are considered and where possible quantified. The annual global input to the atmosphere from this source is provisionally estimated at 160000 t of which 75% is released from tropical and subtropical forests and 86% is attributable to Phellinus. The possible impact of the contribution from fungi and other biological sources on the atmospheric CH3Cl burden and stratospheric ozone depletion is assessed.

Type
REVIEW
Information
Mycological Research , Volume 102 , Issue 7 , July 1998 , pp. 769 - 787
Copyright
The British Mycological Society 1998

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