Abstract
Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are environmental contaminants causing increasing concerns due to their toxicity, persistence and ubiquity. In the present study, degradative capabilities of Trametes versicolor, Pleurotus ostreatus and Phanerochaete chrysosporium to act on five EDCs, which represent different classes of chemicals (phenols, parabens and phthalate) and were first applied as single compounds, were assessed. T. versicolor was selected due to its efficiency against target EDCs and its potentialities were exploited against a mixture of EDCs in a cost-effective bioremediation process. A fed-batch approach as well as a starvation strategy were applied in order to reduce the need for input of ‘fresh’ biomass, and avoid the requirement for external nutrients. The fungus was successfully operated in two different bioreactors over one week. Semi-batch cultures were carried out by daily adding a mixture of EDCs to the bioreactors in a total of five consecutive degradation cycles. T. versicolor was able to efficiently remove all compounds during each cycle converting up to 21 mg L-1 day-1 of the tested EDCs. The maintained ability of T. versicolor to remove EDCs without any additional nutrients represents the main outcome of this study, which enables to forecast its application in a water treatment process.
Highlights
In the last decades, a large number of materials and compounds have been produced and released into the environment without adequate knowledge on their interaction with the human health, and this behaviour resulted in a continuous pollution by a wide array of hazardous chemicals
This study focused on dimethyl phthalate (DMPTL)
T. versicolor, P. chrysosporium, and P. ostreatus were tested for their degradative capabilities against selected Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs)
Summary
A large number of materials and compounds have been produced and released into the environment without adequate knowledge on their interaction with the human health, and this behaviour resulted in a continuous pollution by a wide array of hazardous chemicals. EDCs are a group of compounds known to alter normal hormone regulation and to damage the health of living organisms and their progenies or subpopulations [1,2] They are present in surface waters, groundwater, and even tap water due to their recalcitrance to activated sludge wastewater treatment [3]. Some reports underline the better efficiency of fungal whole cell treatment compared to enzymatic ones [12], probably due to the synergic involvement of extracellular and mycelium-bound enzymes as well as biosorption phenomena [12] These fungi may secrete low molecular weight redox mediators that enlarge the spectrum of oxidizable pollutants [13]. The contribution of intracellular fungal enzyme systems has been demonstrated for micropollutant degradation [14,15]
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