Amazonian soil fungi are efficient degraders of glyphosate herbicide; novel isolates of Penicillium, Aspergillus, and Trichoderma.

L O Correa,J V B Souza,E S Souza,L R S Honorato,A C A Cortez,A F M Bezerra

doi:10.1590/1519-6984.242830

Abstract

Pesticide residues that contaminate the environment circulate within the hydrological cycle can accumulate within the food chain and cause problems to both environmental and human health. Microbes, however, are well known for their metabolic versatility and the ability to degrade chemically stable substances, including recalcitrant xenobiotics. The current study focused on bio-prospecting within Amazonian rainforest soils to find novel strains fungi capable of efficiently degrading the agriculturally and environmentally ubiquitous herbicide, glyphosate. Of 50 fungal strains isolated (using culture media supplemented with glyphosate as the sole carbon-substrate), the majority were Penicillium strains (60%) and the others were Aspergillus and Trichoderma strains (26 and 8%, respectively). All 50 fungal isolates could use glyphosate as a phosphorous source. Eight of these isolates grew better on glyphosate-supplemented media than on regular Czapek Dox medium. LC-MS revealed that glyphosate degradation by Penicillium 4A21 resulted in sarcosine and aminomethylphosphonic acid.

Highlights

The need for global food security is more urgent than at any time in human history, and yet the need to protect environmental and human health are both necessary and challenging (Sharma et al, 2019)
A recalcitrant substance that has been applied as an herbicide that targets broad‐leaved plants and grasses since 1974, throughout both temperate- and tropical regions
The isolated microorganisms belonged to the Phylum Ascomycota, the genus Penicillium (60.0%), Aspergillus (26%) and Trichoderma (8%)

Summary

Introduction

The need for global food security is more urgent than at any time in human history, and yet the need to protect environmental and human health are both necessary and challenging (Sharma et al, 2019). We have known that these xenobiotics circulate within the hydrological cycle and so contaminate diverse geographical regions indiscriminately, including otherwise. In some cases, it can influence the loss of biodiversity in different biomes, affecting the physiological performance of native plants not resistant to herbicides (Batista et al, 2018)

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Conclusion