Atlas of Contaminated Sites

Fungus, mould

Scedosporium apiospermum (Sacc.) Sacc. ex Castell. & Chalm.

An ascomycete that often turns up in hydrocarbon-contaminated environments. It grows on toluene, phenol and p-cresol as sole carbon sources, and in a biofilter removes toluene from air. It is, however, also an opportunistic human pathogen.

Scedosporium apiospermum
Ajay Kumar Chaurasiya, CC BY-SA 4.0

How it works

Mechanisms
mycodegradation
Enzymes
catechol dioxygenase, cytochrome p450

Contaminants

ContaminantEvidenceWhat was shown
BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylenes)laboratory

2.9 L biofilter on vermiculite, inlet toluene 6 g/m3: stable elimination capacity of 100 g per m3 reactor per hour for 20 days, and about 258 g/m3/h at 98% efficiency with periodic addition of mineral medium. Strain TB1 had been isolated from a biofilter run on toluene for over 6 months.

Phenols and chlorophenolslaboratory

A soil isolate uses phenol and p-cresol as carbon and energy source: catabolism through catechol, hydroxyhydroquinone and protocatechuate, cleaved intradiolically by inducible dioxygenases and fed into the 3-oxoadipate pathway.

Petroleum hydrocarbonslaboratory

Genomic evidence, not measured degradation: the genome of an environmental strain (44.2 Mbp, 11,195 predicted genes) holds dioxygenase and cytochrome P450 families and potential pathways for toluene, xylene, ethylbenzene, naphthalene, PAHs, chlorobenzene and others.

Limits

It is an opportunistic pathogen (the 2017 genome comparison is with a clinical strain): not an organism to release into the environment or handle without containment. Evidence comes from biofilters and cultures. The biofilter needs moisture control (55-60%) and periodic nutrients to keep its efficiency.

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