Chlorination and biodegradation of lignin

Recent research has shown that large amounts of high-molecular weight organic chlorine of unknown origin are present in the terrestrial environment. There are indications that an underlying process may be microorganisms which produce reactive chlorine that chemically degrades organic matter and facilitates degradation of recalcitrant organic matter on one hand, and on the other hand causes a formation of organic chlorine. Our aim was to test one part of this hypothesis by investigating whether reactive chlorine facilitates microbial degradation of lignin. Different concentrations of chlorine dioxide were added to the autoclaved lignin suspension. Mycelium of the white-rot fungus P. chrysosporium was used to inoculate flasks with the lignin solutions. The evolution of CO2 was followed during 8 d of continuous measurement. At the end of the experiment the solutions were analyzed for organic chlorine. The amount of CO2 evolved was variable, but the results were repeatedable; addition of chlorine dioxide to the lignin solutions caused an increase in the mineralization by P. chrysosporium that increased with increasing additions of chlorine dioxide. This suggests that exposure of lignin to reactive chlorine enhance its biodegradability. The most likely cause of the observed effect is that the addition of chlorine dioxide initiated a fragmentation and oxidation of the lignin, thus rendering a more easily degraded substrate. However, the results may also be interpreted as if an additional cause to the observed effect is that the chlorination in itself somehow enhanced degradation. The amount of organically-bound chlorine decreased during the incubation, and the decrease was more pronounced with the chlorination of lignin, whereas no change at all was observable in the control batches. This makes it tempting to suggest that P. chrysosporium rather than having an enzyme system just capable of handling the chlorinated compounds, actually has a system that preferentially degrades such compounds.