Journal of Wood Chemistry and Technology, 31: 282–297, 2011 Copyright © Taiwan Forestry Research Institute ISSN 0277-3813 print / 1532-2319 online DOI: 10.1080/02773813.2010.523164 Screening of Ophiostoma Species for Removal of Eucalyptus Extractives Yu-Chang Su, 1 Chen-Lung Ho, 1,2 Kuang-Ping Hsu, 2 Hou-Min Chang, 3 Roberta Farrell, 4 and Eugene I-Chen Wang 2 1 Department of Forestry, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan 2 Department of Wood Cellulose, Taiwan Forestry Research Institute, Taipei, Taiwan 3 Department of Wood & Paper Science, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA 4 Department of Biological Sciences, The University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand Abstract: Ophiostoma species have been demonstrated to metabolize wood extrac- tives and be useful to the pulp and paper industry. In order to have new isolates for the Asian market, Eucalyptus camaldulensis logs were harvested from forest sites in central Taiwan and 28 strains of the Ophiostoma genus were isolated from them. These strains were subsequently inoculated onto Eucalyptus wood chips to evaluate their ef- fects on weight losses of wood and the amounts of acetone extractives degraded. At the same time, Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy (GC-MS) analysis was con- ducted and by using calibration curves and a database of GC-MS mass spectra, changes in lipophilic compounds were analyzed. Fatty acids, hydrocarbons, sterol compounds, sterol esters, and triglycerides were significantly reduced after two weeks’ inocula- tion by the fungal strains. The results show that six of the strains were capable of reducing the lipophilic fractions by more than 60% in a two-week treatment. DNA of the most effective strains were analyzed and found to be a variant of Ophiostoma querci. Keywords: Eucalyptus camadulensis, Ophiostoma, lipophilic, pitch We acknowledge financial support from the Foundation for Research Science and Technology in New Zealand and from Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan, Taipei, Taiwan, contract/grant number: 95AS-12.2.2-FI-G7, for financial support for this inves- tigation. We thank Joanne M. Thwaites and Shona M. Duncan for laboratory assistance and useful discussions. Address correspondence to, Eugene I-Chen Wang, Department of Wood Cellulose, Taiwan Forestry Research Institute, 53 Nanhei Road, Taipei 100, Taiwan. E-mail: iwang@tfri.gov.tw 282 Downloaded by [National Chung Hsing University] at 20:22 21 August 2011