Preparation, characterization, and microbial degradation of specifically radiolabeled [C]lignocelluloses from marine and freshwater macrophytes.

Specifically radiolabeled [C-lignin]lignocelluloses were prepared from the aquatic macrophytes Spartina alterniflora, Juncus roemerianus, Rhizophora mangle, and Carex walteriana by using [C]phenylalanine, [C]tyrosine, and [C]cinnamic acid as precursors. Specifically radiolabeled [C-polysaccharide]lignocelluloses were prepared by using [C]glucose as precursor. The rates of microbial degradation varied among [C-lignin]lignocelluloses labeled with different lignin precursors within the same plant species. To determine the causes of these differential rates, [C-lignin]lignocelluloses were thoroughly characterized for the distribution of radioactivity in nonlignin contaminants and within the lignin macromolecule. In herbaceous plants, significant amounts (8 to 24%) of radioactivity from [C]phenylalanine and [C]tyrosine were found associated with protein, although very little (3%) radioactivity from [C]cinnamic acid was associated with protein. Microbial degradation of radiolabeled protein resulted in overestimation of lignin degradation rates in lignocelluloses derived from herbaceous aquatic plants. Other differences in degradation rates among [C-lignin]lignocelluloses from the same plant species were attributable to differences in the amount of label being associated with ester-linked subunits of peripheral lignin. After acid hydrolysis of [C-polysaccharide]lignocelluloses, radioactivity was detected in several sugars, although most of the radioactivity was distributed between glucose and xylose. After 576 h of incubation with salt marsh sediments, 38% of the polysaccharide component and between 6 and 16% of the lignin component (depending on the precursor) of J. roemerianus lignocellulose was mineralized to CO(2); during the same incubation period, 30% of the polysaccharide component and between 12 and 18% of the lignin component of S. alterniflora lignocellulose was mineralized.