Bioremediation of Explosive TNT by Trichoderma viride

Abstract

Nitroaromatic and nitroamine compounds such as 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) are teratogenic, cytotoxic, and may cause cellular mutations in humans, animals, plants, and microorganisms. Microbial-based bioremediation technologies have been shown to offer several advantages against the cellular toxicity of nitro-organic compounds. Thus, the current study was designed to evaluate the ability of Trichoderma viride to degrade nitrogenous explosives, such as TNT, by microbiological assay and Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) analysis. In this study, T. viride fungus was shown to have the ability to decompose, and TNT explosives were used at doses of 50 and 100 ppm on the respective growth media as a nitrogenous source needed for normal growth. The GC/MS analysis confirmed the biodegradable efficiency of TNT, whereas the initial retention peak of the TNT compounds disappeared, and another two peaks appeared at the retention times of 9.31 and 13.14 min. Mass spectrum analysis identified 5-(hydroxymethyl)-2-furancarboxaldehyde with the molecular formula C6H6O3 and a molecular weight of 126 g·mol−1 as the major compound, and 4-propyl benzaldehyde with a formula of C10H12O and a molecular weight of 148 g mol−1 as the minor compound, both resulting from the biodegradation of TNT by T. viride. In conclusion, T. viride could be used in microbial-based bioremediation technologies as a biological agent to eradicate the toxicity of the TNT explosive. In addition, future molecular-based studies should be conducted to clearly identify the enzymes and the corresponding genes that give T. viride the ability to degrade and remediate TNT explosives. This could help in the eradication of soils contaminated with explosives or other toxic biohazards.

Dual inoculation of dark septate endophytes and Trichoderma viride drives plant performance and rhizosphere microbiome adaptations of Astragalus mongholicus to drought

“…First, dual inoculation of DSE and TV could improve the root system and N and P absorption by plants, which consequently led to the depletion of these common nutrients in the soil (Halifu et al ., 2019 ; Li et al ., 2019a ). Second, DSE and TV could act as decomposers, converting soil organic nutrients into available forms to promote the growth and tolerance of plants to stressful conditions (Schmoll, 2018 ; He et al ., 2019 ; Alothman et al ., 2020 ). Endophytic fungi increase the interactions between plants and soil and expand the amount of available N and P because they secrete several enzymes required for the mineralization of organic N and insoluble P in the soil into available forms.…”

Sustainable Approaches of Trichoderma under Changing Environments for Vegetable Production

“…Some ecological, biochemical, molecular and geneticapproaches should also be integrated for developing of novel technologies (Gorai et al 2020). Based on the recent studies, many researchers confirmed the role of Trichoderma in the bioremediation of many organic contaminants such asTNT by Trichoderma viride (Alothman et al 2020), chromium by by Trichoderma viride (Zapana-Huarache et al 2020), and copper or chromium by Trichoderma lixii CR700 Dwivedi 2019, 2021), diesel byTrichoderma harzianum strain T22 (Elshafie et al 2020), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by T. longibrachiatum (Li et al 2021).…”

Isolation and Characterization of Nickel-Tolerant Trichoderma Strains from Marine and Terrestrial Environments

“…Interestingly, the genus Trichoderma are among those fungal taxa that were reported resistant to many toxic compounds, including fungicides, herbicides, and other organic pollutants and, in some cases, can degrade these toxic contaminants [11,12]. The toxic trinitrotoluene (TNT) was degraded by T. viride [13]. Other studies showed the ability of Trichoderma to degrade hydrocarbons and other organic pollutants [14,15].…”