Unraveling the Detoxification Mechanism of 2,4-Dichlorophenol by Marine-Derived Mesophotic Symbiotic Fungi Isolated from Marine Invertebrates.

Efstratios Nikolaivits,Suchana Chavanich,Nikolas Fokialakis,Kyriaki Machera,Yehuda Benayahu,Andreas Agrafiotis,Jamal Ouazzani,Aikaterini Termentzi,Evangelos Topakas,Géraldine Le Goff,Pedro Álvarez

doi:10.3390/md17100564

Abstract

Chlorophenols (CPs) are environmental pollutants that are produced through various anthropogenic activities and introduced in the environment. Living organisms, including humans, are exposed to these toxic xenobiotics and suffer from adverse health effects. More specifically, 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP) is released in high amounts in the environment and has been listed as a priority pollutant by the US Environmental Protection Agency. Bioremediation has been proposed as a sustainable alternative to conventional remediation methods for the detoxification of phenolic compounds. In this work, we studied the potential of fungal strains isolated as symbionts of marine invertebrates from the underexplored mesophotic coral ecosystems. Hence, the unspecific metabolic pathways of these fungal strains are being explored in the present study, using the powerful analytical capabilities of a UHPLC-HRMS/MS. The newly identified 2,4-DCP metabolites add significantly to the knowledge of the transformation of such pollutants by fungi, since such reports are scarce.

Highlights

In everyday life, we come across over 60,000 chemicals in the types of consumer products, drugs, pesticides, food additives, fuels, and industrial solvents [1]
Mesophotic coral ecosystems have been rather neglected by scientists, compared to the shallow reefs, mostly because of technical challenges
We tried to access the biodiversity of symbiotic fungal strains isolated from mesophotic invertebrates and their potential in bioremediation of 2,4-DCP

Summary

Introduction

We come across over 60,000 chemicals in the types of consumer products, drugs, pesticides, food additives, fuels, and industrial solvents [1]. These compounds can be detected in water, soil and the atmosphere after volatilization and they can accumulate in the adipose tissue of living organisms due to their lipophilicity [2,3]. Mesophotic coral ecosystems (MCEs) are tropical or sub-tropical light-dependent habitats located at 30–40 m below the sea level and extend as deep as 150 m Even though they are known for the rich biodiversity, they remain relatively under investigated, due to the limitations imposed by their location. There are natural halogenated compounds found in the sea [13], some of them similar to manmade pollutants, like brominated diphenyl ethers Many sessile organisms, such as sponges and corals (or their symbionts), are thought to produce organohalogens as a defense against predators [14]. The strains that showed the highest 2,4-DCP bioconversion yield were chosen for further investigation of their metabolic pathways

Results and Discussion

H4 Cl2 O

Chemicals

Culture Conditions and Resting-Cell Reactions

Identification of Fungal Strains

Conclusions