The formation and regeneration of mycelial protoplasts in hyper lignolytic fungus,strain IZU-154

Over 2 × 10⁷/ml protoplasts were obtained from mycelia of hyper lignolytic fungus (nomenclatured as strain IZU-154) by treatment with the lytic enzyme NovoZym 234 in the presence of 0.05 M maleic acid buffer (pH 5.6) containing 0.6 M MgSO₄. The protoplasts regenerated at more than 10% of frequency on solid 2% agar medium containing 0.6 M sucrose as an osmotic stabilizer overlaid with 0.5% agar containing the stabilizer. In the determination of the lignolytic activities of 50 regenerants from protoplasts, 2 strains which degraded more than 56% of the lignin during incubation for 30 d and showed activity higher than the parent were found. The regeneration from protoplasts of this fungus was suggested to be useful for the breeding of strains having higher lignolytic activity than this fungus.