Cunninghamella elegans · Atlas of Contaminated Sites

How it works

Mechanisms: mycodegradationbiosorption

Contaminants

Contaminant	Evidence	What was shown
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons	laboratory	14C-benzo[a]pyrene: within 96 hours 18.4% converted to metabolites (trans-9,10- and trans-7,8-dihydrodiol, 1,6- and 3,6-quinone, 3- and 9-hydroxy-BaP), largely as sulphate conjugates. Benz[a]anthracene is transformed into trans-8,9-dihydrodiol (90%), 10,11-dihydrodiol (6%) and 3,4-dihydrodiol (4%). Cerniglia & Gibson (1979) Oxidation of benzo[a]pyrene by the filamentous fungus Cunninghamella elegans. J Biol Chem 254:12174-12180, 1979 Cerniglia, Gibson & Dodge (1994) Metabolism of benz[a]anthracene by the filamentous fungus Cunninghamella elegans. Appl Environ Microbiol 60:3931-3938, 1994
Cadmium	laboratory	In culture the fungus removed 70-81% of the cadmium added to the medium; capacity 280 mg/g mycelium at 22.10 mg/L Cd. The metal is deposited in vacuoles, cytoplasm and membranes, in connection with polyphosphate metabolism. de Lima et al. (2013) Cadmium tolerance and removal from Cunninghamella elegans related to the polyphosphate metabolism. Int J Mol Sci 14:7180-7192, 2013
Synthetic dyes	laboratory	Inactivated mycelium, 120 hours of contact: 70% of reactive orange II, 85% of reactive black, 93% of reactive red and 88% of their mixture adsorbed (48.4 mg/g from the mixture). Ambrósio et al. (2012) A biosorption isotherm model for the removal of reactive azo dyes by inactivated mycelia of Cunninghamella elegans UCP542. Molecules 17:452-462, 2012

Contaminant

Evidence

What was shown

laboratory

14C-benzo[a]pyrene: within 96 hours 18.4% converted to metabolites (trans-9,10- and trans-7,8-dihydrodiol, 1,6- and 3,6-quinone, 3- and 9-hydroxy-BaP), largely as sulphate conjugates. Benz[a]anthracene is transformed into trans-8,9-dihydrodiol (90%), 10,11-dihydrodiol (6%) and 3,4-dihydrodiol (4%).

Cerniglia & Gibson (1979) Oxidation of benzo[a]pyrene by the filamentous fungus Cunninghamella elegans. J Biol Chem 254:12174-12180, 1979
Cerniglia, Gibson & Dodge (1994) Metabolism of benz[a]anthracene by the filamentous fungus Cunninghamella elegans. Appl Environ Microbiol 60:3931-3938, 1994

Cadmium

laboratory

In culture the fungus removed 70-81% of the cadmium added to the medium; capacity 280 mg/g mycelium at 22.10 mg/L Cd. The metal is deposited in vacuoles, cytoplasm and membranes, in connection with polyphosphate metabolism.

de Lima et al. (2013) Cadmium tolerance and removal from Cunninghamella elegans related to the polyphosphate metabolism. Int J Mol Sci 14:7180-7192, 2013

Synthetic dyes

laboratory

Inactivated mycelium, 120 hours of contact: 70% of reactive orange II, 85% of reactive black, 93% of reactive red and 88% of their mixture adsorbed (48.4 mg/g from the mixture).

Ambrósio et al. (2012) A biosorption isotherm model for the removal of reactive azo dyes by inactivated mycelia of Cunninghamella elegans UCP542. Molecules 17:452-462, 2012

Limits

This is transformation, not mineralisation: PAHs become dihydrodiols and conjugates that stay in the environment, and only part of the compound reacts (18% in 96 hours). The fungus is valuable as a metabolic model rather than as a clean-up agent. Cadmium and dyes are merely transferred to biomass. No field trial was found.