Abstract
Trichloroethylene (TCE) is a proven carcinogenic chlorinated organic compound widely used as a solvent in industrial cleaning solutions; it is easily found in the soil, air, and water and is a hazardous environmental pollutant. Most studies have attempted to remove TCE from air and water using different anaerobic bacteria species. In addition, a few have used white-rot fungi, although there are hardly any in soil. The objective of the present work is to assess TCE removal efficiency using two species of the genus Pleurotus that have not been tested before: Pleurotus ostreatus and Pleurotus eryngii, growing on a sandy loam soil. These fungi presented different intra- and extracellular enzymatic systems (chytochrome P450 (CYP450), laccase, Mn peroxidase (MnP)) capable of aerobically degrading TCE to less harmful compounds. The potential toxicity of TCE to P. ostreatus and P. eryngii was firstly tested in a TCE-spiked liquid broth (70 mg L−1 and 140 mg L−1) for 14 days. Then, both fungi were assessed for their ability to degrade the pollutant in sandy loam soil spiked with 140 mg kg−1 of TCE. P. ostreatus and P. eryngii improved the natural dissipation of TCE from soil by 44%. Extracellular enzymes were poorly expressed, but mainly in the presence of the contaminant, in accordance with the hypothesis of the involvement of CYP450.
Highlights
Healthy soils are essential to support an environment that provides a safe habitat for the worldwide human population
A morphological analysis of the scanning electron micrographs of P. ostreatus showed that their hyphae had been structurally altered to some extent when cultured in the highest concentration (140 mg L−1) of TCE (Figure 2C)
P. ostreatus tolerated the presence of TCE up to 140 mg L−1 and produced morphologically
Summary
Healthy soils are essential to support an environment that provides a safe habitat for the worldwide human population. Its log Kow is 2.29 [2] and it is considered to be non-polar. It is widely used as a solvent in industrial cleaning solutions. In addition to its ubiquity in the environment, TCE is one of the United States Environmental Protection Agency s (US EPA) 126 priority pollutants for control [4]. It was re-evaluated in 2012 by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), and was classified as a Group 1 carcinogen to humans. The reclassification was based on epidemiological evidence with regard to its involvement in cancer of the kidney, with strong support from studies using experimental animals and human exposure to TCE [5]
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