Comparative study of single cultures and a consortium of white rot fungi for polychlorinated biphenyls treatment

Abstract

Aims To evaluate the mycoremediation of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) by either single cultures or binary consortia of Pleurotus pulmonarius LBM 105 and Trametes sanguinea LBM 023. Methods and Results PCBs tolerance, removal capacity, toxicity reduction and ligninolytic enzyme expression were assessed when growing single culture and binary consortium of fungus in 217 mg l−1 of a technical mixture of Aroclor 1242, 1254 and 1260 in transformer oil. A decrease in tolerance and variation in ligninolytic enzyme secretion were observed in PCB‐amended solid media. Pleurotus pulmonarius LBM 105 mono‐culture was able to remove up to 95·4% of PCBs, whereas binary consortium and T. sanguinea LBM 023 could biodegrade about 55% after 24 days. Significant detoxification levels were detected in all treatments by biosorption mechanism. Conclusions Pleurotus pulmonarius LBM 105 in single culture had the best performance regarding PCBs biodegradation and toxicity reduction. Ligninolytic enzyme secretion changed in co‐culture. Significance and Impact of the Study The evaluation of PCBs bioremediation effectiveness of basidiomycetes consortium in terms of PCB removal, toxicity and ligninolytic enzyme production to unravel the differences between using individual cultures or consortium has not been reported. The results from this study enable the selection of P. pulmonarius LBM 105 mono‐culture to bioremediate PCBs as it showed higher efficiency compared to binary consortium with T. sanguinea LBM 023 for potential decontamination of PCB‐contaminated transformer oil.

Diversity and enzymatic activity of some fungi isolated from agricultural soil

“…The laccase enzyme plays a key role in the degradation of pollutants in the environment due to the activity of free radicals during the oxidation of aromatic compounds, phenolic compounds and amines, and this enzyme is used in biotechnology applications as a biocatalyst and basidiomycetes are the best in its secretion 33 . In recent years, some studies have shown that some anamorphic fungi could secrete this enzyme, which may be due to the mutations resulting from the nature of the environment in which the fungi live 34 .…”