Fusarium solani · Atlas of Contaminated Sites

How it works

Mechanisms: mycodegradation
Enzymes: cyanide hydratase

Contaminants

Contaminant	Evidence	What was shown
Cyanide	laboratory	Strain IHEM 8026, isolated from contaminated soils, degrades cyanide at pH 9.2-10.7 in two hydrolytic steps, traced with K14CN: cyanide to formamide (cyanide hydratase), then formamide to formate, a step associated with growth. No growth on cyanide as sole carbon and nitrogen source; a little yeast extract suffices. Dumestre et al. (1997) Cyanide degradation under alkaline conditions by a strain of Fusarium solani isolated from contaminated soils. Appl Environ Microbiol 63:2729-2734, 1997
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons	laboratory	Benzo[a]pyrene in mineral medium, 12 days: 37.4% degraded with olive oil as carbon source against 4.2% with glucose; up to 76.0% when catalase is inhibited with 2 mM 3-amino-1,2,4-triazole. Delsarte et al. (2018) Lipid metabolism and benzo[a]pyrene degradation by Fusarium solani: an unexplored potential. Environ Sci Pollut Res 25:12177-12182, 2018

Contaminant

Evidence

What was shown

laboratory

Strain IHEM 8026, isolated from contaminated soils, degrades cyanide at pH 9.2-10.7 in two hydrolytic steps, traced with K14CN: cyanide to formamide (cyanide hydratase), then formamide to formate, a step associated with growth. No growth on cyanide as sole carbon and nitrogen source; a little yeast extract suffices.

Dumestre et al. (1997) Cyanide degradation under alkaline conditions by a strain of Fusarium solani isolated from contaminated soils. Appl Environ Microbiol 63:2729-2734, 1997

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

laboratory

Benzo[a]pyrene in mineral medium, 12 days: 37.4% degraded with olive oil as carbon source against 4.2% with glucose; up to 76.0% when catalase is inhibited with 2 mM 3-amino-1,2,4-triazole.

Delsarte et al. (2018) Lipid metabolism and benzo[a]pyrene degradation by Fusarium solani: an unexplored potential. Environ Sci Pollut Res 25:12177-12182, 2018

Limits

In vitro data. Cyanide remains toxic to the fungus too: there is no growth during the first step. The F. solani complex includes plant pathogens and opportunistic human pathogens, which limits deliberate release. No field trial was found.

Where it has been tried

Fidenza (former CIP and Carbochimica plants)

MycoremediationLaboratory, with soil from the site, 2016–2020

Fusarium oxysporum, Fusarium solani, Trichoderma lixii, Aspergillus spp., Pseudomonas putida, Achromobacter xylosoxidans, Ochrobactrum anthropi

Soil from the site, sampled at three depths (0–1, 1–2, 2–3 m), was enriched in the laboratory on benzene, paraffin, pyrene, naphthalene, phenanthrene and crude oil, tracking the bacterial and fungal communities by sequencing. Among the fungi isolated Fusarium dominated, followed by Trichoderma and Aspergillus; among the bacteria, Pseudomonas. Strain Trichoderma lixii MUT3171, isolated from the same soil and kept in the Mycotheca Universitatis Taurinensis, was later genome-sequenced.

Outcome 95 bacterial and 94 fungal strains able to grow on the pollutants were isolated. T. lixii MUT3171 grows on phenanthrene as its sole carbon source. The studies do not measure removal in soil.