et al. ( 2013 ) found less increases in tensile, tear, and brust indices during
pre-treatment of oil palm trunk withT. versicolorandC. subvermispora. On the
other hand, Kasmani et al. ( 2012 ) reported significant reductions in tensile and burst
indices when hornbeam was pre-treated withP. chrysosporium. Therefore, endo-
phytic fungi, mainlyHormonemasp., show a high potential in biomechanical
pulping when these results were compared to other white-rot fungi. Thus, it is
expected that endophytes pre-treated chips would need less energy forfibrillation
target and/or similar mechanical properties than untreated pulp.
12.5 Conclusions
Endophytic fungi have been screened for the search of oxidative enzymes that could
be used as an alternative to existing industrial processes of transformation of lig-
nocellulosic biomass. Ligninolytic activity has been reported for several endophytic
strains in the solid and liquid medium. Among several, endophytes isolated from
eucalyptus trees have been recently applied for biotechnological applications in
biorefineries. Fungal treatments with endophytes are able to enhance saccharifica-
tion ofE. globulus, as well as kraft and mechanical pulping. Moreover, some of
them provided greater enhancement than various white-rot fungi. Therefore,
endophytic fungi show a high potential to be applied in the lignocellulosic industry.
Acknowledgements The authors wish to thank the Spanish Ministry of Economy and
Competitiveness (MINECO) for funding this study via Projects CTQ 2011-28503-C02-01,
CTQ2011-28503-C02-02, CTQ2013-47158-R, Programmes PTA 2011-4857-I and PTA
2014-09248-I.
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