Role of carbon source in the shift from oxidative to hydrolytic wood decomposition by Postia placenta

[Display omitted] •Brown rot (BR) fungi use a two-step oxidative-hydrolytic wood decay mechanism.•BR fungi were assumed constitutive cellulase producers, despite oxidative risks.•Instead of constitutive production in P. placenta, we found an inducible mechanism.•Cellobiose cued induction of cellulases, as well as repressing oxidoreductases.•Brown rot fungi likely segregate two reactions by cuing on the same wood sugar. Brown rot fungi initiate wood decay using oxidative pretreatments to improve access for cellulolytic enzymes. These pretreatments are incompatible with enzymes, and we recently showed that Postia placenta overcomes this issue by delaying glycoside hydrolase (GH) gene upregulation briefly (