Myco‐remediation of selenium contaminated environment and future prospects: An overview

Abstract

Selenium is a trace element which is an essential micronutrient for all organisms. Though it is essential, if taken in excess leads to toxicity. Hence have a detrimental effect on the health. Selenium exists in various oxidation states out of which selenite and selenate are toxic and forms the major part of the pollutant in the ecosystem. Therefore, there is an urgent need to address this issue in an eco‐friendly, efficient, and substantial way to protect the environment from further deterioration. In this regard, fungi have developed unique metabolic pathways to nullify the toxic effects of these pollutants and the process is known as mycoremediation. Mycoremediation is a cost‐effective, environmentally friendly, and efficient approach of environmental remediation that addresses organic, inorganic, and developing toxins (such as antibiotics and pharmaceuticals) by using fungus or their components. An alternative, environmentally friendly method for cleaning up contaminants in environmental matrices is provided by mycoremediation. This is due to the fact that most organic toxins are broken down rather than removed, which lowers the possibility of pollutants entering the food chain through bioaccumulation. Fungi possess robust morphology and various catabolic enzymes capable of using pollutant as a growth substrate. They transform the toxic selenium species via a series of biochemical reaction such as oxidation, reduction, methylation, and demethylation into nontoxic elemental selenium and selenium nanoparticles. Mycoremediation is a process subset that employs to fungi to degrade and restore contaminated Eco‐System. For this reason, a potential framework of “mycoremediation” was proposed to make it easier for this promising to report global environmental issues.