Kingdom Fungi Class Agaricomycetes | Division Basidiomycota Rank Species | |
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Similar Cerrena, Trametes hirsuta, Daedaleopsis, Lenzites betulina, Lenzites | ||
Cerrena unicolor, commonly known as the mossy maze polypore, is a species of fungus in the genus Cerrena (Family: Polyporaceae). This saprobic fungus causes a white rot.
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Description
Cerrena unicolor has fruit bodies that are semicircular, wavy brackets up to 10 centimeters (4 in) wide. Attached to the growing surface without a stalk (sessile), the upper surface is finely hairy, white to grayish brown in color, and in zonate—marked with zones or concentric bands of color. The surface is often green from algal growth. The pore surface is whitish in young specimens, later turning gray in maturity. The arrangement of the pores resembles a maze of slots; the tubes may extend to 4 mm deep. The spore print is white.
Spore are elliptical in shape, smooth, hyaline, in amyloid, and have dimensions of 5–7 x 2.5–4 µm.
Applications
Cerrena unicolor has been identified as a source of the enzyme laccase. This enzyme has potential applications in a wide variety of bioprocesses. C. unicolor is known to produce laccase in culture at more favorable conditions and in higher yield than other wood rotting fungi, and research is focussing on ways to produce laccase cost-effectively on a large scale.
