microorganisms Article Hallmarks of Basidiomycete Soft- and White-Rot in Wood-Decay -Omics Data of Two Armillaria Species Neha Sahu 1,2, Zsolt Merényi 1, Balázs Bálint 1, Brigitta Kiss 1, György Sipos 3,4 , Rebecca A. Owens 5 and László G. Nagy 1,6,* 1 Biological Research Center, Synthetic and Systems Biology Unit, 6726 Szeged, Hungary;
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[email protected] (B.K.) 2 Doctoral School of Biology, Faculty of Science and Informatics, University of Szeged, 6726 Szeged, Hungary 3 Research Center for Forestry and Wood Industry, Functional Genomics and Bioinformatics Group, University of Sopron, 9400 Sopron, Hungary;
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[email protected] Abstract: Wood-decaying Basidiomycetes are among the most efficient degraders of plant cell walls, making them key players in forest ecosystems, global carbon cycle, and in bio-based industries. Recent insights from -omics data revealed a high functional diversity of wood-decay strategies, especially among the traditional white-rot and brown-rot dichotomy. We examined the mechanistic bases of wood-decay in the conifer-specialists Armillaria ostoyae and Armillaria cepistipes using tran- scriptomic and proteomic approaches. Armillaria spp. (Fungi, Basidiomycota) include devastating pathogens of temperate forests and saprotrophs that decay wood. They have been discussed as white-rot species, though their response to wood deviates from typical white-rotters.