Ten fungal isolates with an ability to degrade crude oil were isolated from select marine substrates, such as mangrove sediments, Arabian Sea sediments, and tarballs. Out of the ten isolates, six belonged to , two to and one each to and as identified using ITS rDNA sequencing. The selected ten fungal isolates were found to degrade the long-chain -alkanes as opposed to short-chain-alkanes from the crude oil. Mangrove fungus #NIOSN-M126 () was found to be highly efficient in biodegradation of crude oil, reducing the total crude oil content by 77% and the individual -alkane fraction by an average of 95.37%, indicating it to be a potential candidate for the development into a bioremediation agent.

Chromium (Cr) released from industrial units such as tanneries, textile and electroplating industries is detrimental to the surrounding ecosystems and human health. The focus of the present study was to check the Cr(VI) removal efficiency by marine-derived fungi from liquid broth. Amongst the three Cr(VI) tolerant isolates, #NIOSN-SK56-S19 () showed Cr-removal efficiency of 0.01 mg Cr mg biomass resulting in 26% abatement of total Cr with just 2.8 mg of biomass produced during the growth in 300 ppm Cr(VI). Scanning Electron Microscopy revealed aggregation of mycelial biomass with exopolysaccharide, while Electron Dispersive Spectroscopy showed the presence of CrO inside the biomass indicating presence of active Cr(VI) removal mechanisms. This was further supported when the Cr(VI) removal was monitored using DPC (1,5-diphenylcarbazide) method. The results of this study point to the potential of marine-derived fungal isolates for Cr(VI) removal.

Filamentous fungi are ubiquitous eukaryotes having chitin as a major constituent of the cell wall. Chitin is tough to lyse due to which the intracellular fungal proteins are not readily accessible. The problem is further enhanced when the biomass to be analyzed for protein studies is too little due to the extreme experimental parameters under consideration such as increased or lowered pH, temperature, hydrostatic pressure, nutrients, etc. The method described here is capable of obtaining proteins from minuscule quantities of biomass (*5 mg lyophilized biomass). In this study, different lysing conditions and varied composition of extraction buffers were tried to obtain maximum protein of high quality. Lysis with zirconium beads in a combination buffer system (Tris-MgCl 2 buffer, urea buffer I and urea buffer II) was best for extracting proteins from the fungal isolates used. The protocol described here provides for a simple and quick method for extraction of high-quality proteins from very less biomass that could be extended to other tough to lyse biological material also.

Copper is one of the essential trace dietary minerals for all living organisms, but is potentially toxic at higher concentrations, mainly due to the redox reactions in its transition state.

Abiotic factors can cause substantial limitation of growth of microbes. A combination of salinity stress along with chromium (Cr), one of the carcinogen, can pose an immediate threat to any living system. To understand how salinity (0, 35 and 100 PSU) and Cr(VI) stress (0, 100 and 500 ppm), affects cells at the molecular level, the cellular response of to the individual as well the combination of both the stresses were studied by peptide mass fingerprinting technique. The study reports 1412 proteins, of which 105 proteins were found to be present across all conditions. The most prevalent functional class expressed was genetic information processing. Proteins involved in free radical scavenging were up-regulated in response to the oxidative stress generated due to both the applied stresses while expression of metal chelators, transporters systems, indicated towards multiple stress tolerance mechanisms to combat synergistic effects of salt and Cr stress.