Abstract
Introduction:The present work focused on the biodegradation capability of a white-rot fungus, thePleurotus sajor-caju, when exposed to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.Methods:The research was carried out by usingin vitrosystems developed on Petri dishes, to evaluate the fungal tolerance to pyrene and chrysene, followed by experiments in liquid medium. The first experimental campaign was necessary to evaluate the conditions promoting fungal growth and tolerance (presence of surfactants, peptone, copper sulphate and lecithin) and it was designed and analysed using statistical techniques.Results:It was found that the fungal population growth is strongly inhibited by chrysene presence. On the other hand, pyrene had a mild negative impact on the mycelia growth, which seemed to be positively influenced by the presence of Tween 80 and copper sulphate. Starting from these results, the behaviour ofPleurotus sajor-cajuin presence of pyrene was investigated in liquid medium. Results showed that the depletion of pyrene was evident during a period of 20 days, and removal efficiency was greater than 90%.
Highlights
The present work focused on the biodegradation capability of a white-rot fungus, the Pleurotus sajor-caju, when exposed to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
For each source of variation, the table shows the corresponding sum of squares of the source variation, the degrees of freedom d.o.f., the mean squared error, the F-ratio statistics and the p-value associated to that source of variation
Based on a fractional factorial design used to investigate the effects of different parameters, the growth in Petri dishes of Pleurotus sajor-caju evidenced that pyrene was well tolerated by the organism, and that Tween 80 and copper sulphate may enhance its development
Summary
The present work focused on the biodegradation capability of a white-rot fungus, the Pleurotus sajor-caju, when exposed to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) are considered priority pollutants because of their ubiquity and because most of them are mutagenic and carcinogenic. PAH compounds with high molecular weight show low water solubility and biodegradability ( Table 1) [1], and genotoxicity generally increases as the water solubility decreases. PAHs can be found in soils and sediments, and they persist in the environment. They have a high trophic transfer and biomagnification within the ecosystems due to their lipophilic nature. Among the different strategies developed to remove PAHs from the environment, including volatilization, photo-oxidation, chemical oxidation, and adsorption, biodegradation has recently received great attention [2, 3]. The successful use of microorganisms to clean up contaminated environments mainly depends on the low cost of such treatments and the fulfilment of the most
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