Atlas of Contaminated Sites

Fungus, mould

Penicillium janthinellum

A soil mould repeatedly isolated from creosote-contaminated sites and former gasworks. It is not ligninolytic; it degrades heavy PAHs only partially and with other nutrients present, but in coculture with bacteria it enables degradation that neither achieves alone. Other Penicillium species isolated from the same sites use pyrene as sole carbon source.

How it works

Mechanisms
mycodegradation

Contaminants

ContaminantEvidenceWhat was shown
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbonslaboratory

Strain VUO 10201, isolated from contaminated soil, cannot use high-molecular-weight PAHs as sole carbon source but partially degrades them in nutrient broth; in coculture with bacteria (Stenotrophomonas maltophilia or a consortium) there is significant degradation of, and growth on, pyrene, chrysene, benz[a]anthracene, benzo[a]pyrene and dibenz[a,h]anthracene. Isolates from a former gasworks: P. janthinellum removed 57% of 50 mg/L pyrene in 28 days at 22 °C, P. terrestre 75%.

Limits

Liquid-culture data. Alone the fungus neither grows on heavy PAHs nor mineralises them significantly: the result depends on the bacterial partner. At 100 mg/L pyrene, removal by P. janthinellum falls to 31.5%. No field trial was found.

Sources

Draft compiled from public sources, not yet reviewed.

Species that the literature reports acting on at least one of this one's contaminants, the closest first.

All plants and fungi