Perspectives of using fungi as bioresource for bioremediation of pesticides in the environment: a critical review

Abstract

Pesticides are used for controlling the development of various pests in agricultural crops worldwide. Despite their agricultural benefits, pesticides are often considered a serious threat to the environment because of their persistent nature and the anomalies they create. Hence removal of such pesticides from the environment is a topic of interest for the researchers nowadays. During the recent years, use of biological resources to degrade or remove pesticides has emerged as a powerful tool for their in situ degradation and remediation. Fungi are among such bioresources that have been widely characterized and applied for biodegradation and bioremediation of pesticides. This review article presents the perspectives of using fungi for biodegradation and bioremediation of pesticides in liquid and soil media. This review clearly indicates that fungal isolates are an effective bioresource to degrade different pesticides including lindane, methamidophos, endosulfan, chlorpyrifos, atrazine, cypermethrin, dieldrin, methyl parathion, heptachlor, etc. However, rate of fungal degradation of pesticides depends on soil moisture content, nutrient availability, pH, temperature, oxygen level, etc. Fungal strains were found to harbor different processes including hydroxylation, demethylation, dechlorination, dioxygenation, esterification, dehydrochlorination, oxidation, etc during the biodegradation of different pesticides having varying functional groups. Moreover, the biodegradation of different pesticides was found to be mediated by involvement of different enzymes including laccase, hydrolase, peroxidase, esterase, dehydrogenase, manganese peroxidase, lignin peroxidase, etc. The recent advances in understanding the fungal biodegradation of pesticides focusing on the processes, pathways, genes/enzymes and factors affecting the biodegradation have also been presented in this review article.

Laccases: Production, Expression Regulation, and Applications in Pharmaceutical Biodegradation

“…A summary of environmental contaminants as laccase substrates from published research in the year 2016 is provided in Table 3. The contaminants investigated include dyestuffs (Singh R. L. et al, 2015; Sen et al, 2016), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) (Librando and Pappalardo, 2013), endocrine disrupters (Cabana et al, 2007; Husain and Qayyum, 2012; Gasser et al, 2014), and pesticides (Maqbool et al, 2016). …”

Fungal communities (Mycobiome) as potential ecological indicators within confluence stretch of Ganges and Yamuna Rivers, India

“…However, the extracellular peroxidase enzyme of this fungus is non-specific and has been associated with degradation of xenobiotics like chlorocyclohexane and chlorobenzene (Diez 2010; Meuser 2013). Saprophytic fungi like Aspergillus and Pencillum have been reported to degrade chlorocyclohexane (Maqbool et al 2016). Besides, Trametes, Aspergillus and Penicillium have been reported for their ability to degrade dioxin (Chang 2008; Deshmukh et al 2016; Pathak and Navneet 2017).…”

The biochemical properties of a novel paraoxonase-like enzyme in Trichoderma atroviride strain T23 involved in the degradation of 2,2-dichlorovinyl dimethyl phosphate

“…In earlier studies it was observed that fungus played a significant role in reducing organic compound levels through enzymes they produce or mycelial adsorption (38), (39), (40), (41). Thus, it was decided to study the degradation and adsorption performed by strain T23.…”