Potential of Penicillium Species in the Bioremediation Field

Abstract

Abstract:The effects on the environment of pollution, particularly that caused by various industrial activities, have been responsible for the accelerated fluxes of organic and inorganic matter in the ecosphere. Xenobiotics such as phenol, phenolic compounds, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and heavy metals, even at low concentrations, can be toxic to humans and other forms of life. Many of the remediation technologies currently being used for contaminated soil and water involve not only physical and chemical treatment, but also biological processes, where microbial activity is the responsible for pollutant removal and/or recovery. Fungi are present in aquatic sediments, terrestrial habitats and water surfaces and play a significant part in natural remediation of metal and aromatic compounds. Fungi also have advantages over bacteria since fungal hyphae can penetrate contaminated soil, reaching not only heavy metals but also xenobiotic compounds. Despite of the abundance of such fungi in wastes, penicillia in particular have received little attention in bioremediation and biodegradation studies. Additionally, several studies conducted with different strains of imperfecti fungi, Penicillium spp. have demonstrated their ability to degrade different xenobiotic compounds with low co-substrate requirements, and could be potentially interesting for the development of economically feasible processes for pollutant transformation.

Optimal Parameters for in Vitro Development of the Fungus Hydrocarbonoclastic Penicillium sp

“…24 strains of total fungi were obtained (Figure 1 shows the 14 strains with higher multiplication). The so-called H14, H18, H19, H29 and H24 had the highest population development in the PDA medium and then were sown in the SCA medium where colonies H14, H18 and H24 showed greater growth ( Table 1) cording to Atlas et al [53] and Adams-Schroeder et al [54], as specialized degrading hydrocarbons strains, because of their ability to adapt in soils with high concentrations of crude oil and use it as a source of carbon and energy due to their genetic potential [16,25,46,55,56]. Subsequently, these 3 strains were sown in the LCA medium, where H24 had the highest population growth ( Table 2), and was classified as Penicillium sp.…”

“…They grow under stress conditions: under pH, lack of nutrients and low water activity [23]. Fungi have also demonstrated their ability to degrade in some cases, such as mineralize phenols, halogenated phenolic compounds, petroleum hydrocarbons, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and polychlorinated biphenyls in large stress conditions [24,25].…”

“…fungi have been used in studies of crude oil biodegradation [16,23,[25][26][27][28], and the mineralization of a variety of oil derivates, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), including pyrene, chrysene, and benzo [a] pyrene and polar metabolites [12,25,[29][30][31], as well as toxicity studies with hexadecane, phenanthrene and beta-naphthol, as biodegradation sometimes cannot be carried out because of the toxicity of the oil rather than its own persistence [9]. The metabolism of PAHs by strains of filamentous fungi is mediated by extracellular lignolytic enzymes or intracellular cytochrome P450 monooxygenases [32,33].…”

“…to tolerate these pollutants and grow in them, suggests they may be used as bioremediation agents and can be used in the restoration of the ecosystem when impacted by these pollutants, because they produce enzymes and acids that break and dismantle the long chains of hydrocarbons, the base structure common to oils, petroleum products and many other pollutants [29]. Despite the abundance of fungi, Penicillium in particular has received little attention in studies of biodegradation, with a relatively small number of pilot projects and large-scale studies using this organism that has a high potential in the field of bioremediation [25].…”

Biodegradation and Bioremediation of Organic Pesticides

“…They can catalyze reactions of oxidation, reduction or oxidative breakdown of xenobiotics ( Figure 2). It seems that they are evolutively conserved since genomes from virus, bacteria, algae, plant, fungi and animals have isoforms of CYP codified (12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21). In eukaryotic organisms, CYP is found in smooth endoplasmic reticulum, and can biotransform a wide range of pollutants.…”