This action funds a Presidential Young Investigator award for five years. The major field of research is the biodegradation of the aromatic polymer, lignin. Areas to be studied are the enzymology and molecular biology of oxygen activation and free radical reactions during lignin degradation by the wood- destroying fungus Phanerochaete. Lignin is the biopolymer that holds together the cellulose and hemicellulose fibers in woody tissues and is removed in the paper pulping process. The biological mechanism employed by the fungus is unknown but could be exploited to great economic and environmental advantage.
