Phanerochaete chrysosporium · Atlas of Contaminated Sites

How it works

Mechanisms: mycodegradation
Enzymes: lignin peroxidase, manganese peroxidase

Contaminants

Contaminant	Evidence	What was shown
Phenols and chlorophenols	field	Field study on soil contaminated with a commercial wood preservative (250-400 µg/g pentachlorophenol), inoculated with P. chrysosporium or P. sordida and amended with peat: PCP fell by 88-91% in 6.5 weeks, at suboptimal temperatures and without inorganic nutrients. Only 8-13% of the decrease was methylation to pentachloroanisole; most ended up as non-extractable soil-bound products. Lamar & Dietrich (1990) In situ depletion of pentachlorophenol from contaminated soil by Phanerochaete spp. Appl Environ Microbiol 56:3093-3100, 1990
DDT and breakdown products	laboratory	In culture the fungus oxidised labelled DDT to CO2; model studies with DDT indicate that the ability depends on the extracellular lignin-degrading system. Bumpus et al. (1985) Oxidation of persistent environmental pollutants by a white rot fungus. Science 228:1434-1436, 1985
Polychlorinated biphenyls	laboratory	Mineralisation to CO2 of 3,4,3',4'-tetrachlorobiphenyl and 2,4,5,2',4',5'-hexachlorobiphenyl in culture. Bumpus et al. (1985) Science 228:1434-1436, 1985
Dioxins and furans	laboratory	Mineralisation to CO2 of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin in culture. Bumpus et al. (1985) Science 228:1434-1436, 1985
Hexachlorocyclohexane (lindane)	laboratory	Mineralisation of lindane to CO2 in culture. Bumpus et al. (1985) Science 228:1434-1436, 1985
Explosives (TNT, RDX)	laboratory	TNT: at 1.3 mg/L, 35.4 ± 3.6% of 14C-TNT was mineralised to CO2 in 18 days. At contaminated-site concentrations (10,000 mg/kg in soil with corncobs, 100 mg/L in water) about 85% of the TNT was degraded in 90 days, with 18.4% and 19.6% converted to CO2. Fernando, Bumpus & Aust (1990) Biodegradation of TNT (2,4,6-trinitrotoluene) by Phanerochaete chrysosporium. Appl Environ Microbiol 56:1666-1671, 1990

Limits

In the field trial PCP was not mineralised but largely bound to soil: the authors themselves state that the nature, stability and toxicity of these residues must be clarified before the method can be considered viable. The 1985 data are mineralisations in pure culture at low concentrations. This species' MnP oxidises industrial azo and phthalocyanine dyes little or not at all (Heinfling et al. 1998), and anthracene stops at anthraquinone (Field et al. 1992). In soil an added organic substrate (peat, corncobs) is needed.

Where it has been tried

US wood-preservative site, PCP-contaminated soil (Lamar and Dietrich field study)

MycoremediationField scale

Phanerochaete chrysosporium, Phanerochaete sordida

Lamar and Dietrich inoculated the soil in the field with two white-rot fungi, adding peat as a carbon source, at temperatures below the fungi's optimum and without mineral nutrients.

Outcome Extractable PCP fell by 88–91% in 6.5 weeks. But 8–13% of the decrease was methylation to pentachloroanisole and most of the PCP turned out to be converted into non-extractable soil-bound products, not mineralised. The authors themselves write that the nature, stability and toxicity of those products must be clarified before the method can be considered viable.