This award supports cooperative research in forest products research between T. Kent Kirk of the University of Wisconsin at Madison and Jose Vicuna of the Catholic University in Santiago, Chile. They will undertake genetic and biochemical studies of bacteria responsible for lignin biodegradation. Natural bacterial strains will be sought that can metabolize low molecular weight lignin-related substrates. Then the metabolic pathways involved in the degradation of lignin model compounds will be identified and the enzymes which catalyze the cleavage of intermonomeric linkages will be isolated and characterized. Bacterial growth on lignin and their consumption of fungal degradation products will be analyzed. Finally, a genetic library of lignolytic strains will be constructed. This research will continue a successful collaboration between Kirk, who has experience in lignin chemistry and Vicuna, who has isolated several strains of lignin bacteria. Little work has been done in South America on lignin degradation. Yet its different ecological habitats may yield microbial strains unknown in the northern hemisphere. This work allows the U.S. scientist to include bacterial studies in his work and will aid the research component of the Chilean pulp and paper industry. Their different complementary backgrounds and approaches are likely to lead to advances in pulp bleaching, in modifying fiber properties, in converting lignin to useful products and in waste treatment. In so doing the project fulfills the goals of the Science in Developing Countries Program.
