Removal of anthracene and phenanthrene by filamentous fungi capable of cortexolone 11-hydroxylation

Abstract

Nine fungal strains showing ability of cortexolone hydroxylation to epicortisol and/or cortisol were screened in this work for anthracene and phenanthrene elimination (250 mg/l). All of the strains (Cylindrocladium simplex IM 2358, C. simplex IM 2358/650, Monosporium olivaceum IM 484, Curvularia lunata IM 2901, C. lunata IM 2901/366, C. tuberculata IM 4417, Cunninghamella elegans IM 1785, C. elegans IM 1785/21Gp, C. elegans IM 1785/10Gi) significantly removed anthracene and phenanthrene. During incubation with anthracene formation of intermediate products was observed. The amount of the main intermediate product, identified as 9,10‐anthraquinone, was not greater than 22.2% of the anthracene introduced to the fungal cultures. C. elegans IM 1785/21Gp was the best degrader of both anthracene and phenanthrene, removing 81.6 and 99.4% of these compounds after 7 days, respectively. Phenanthrene removal by C. elegans IM 1785/21Gp was preceded by PAHs accumulation in mycelium and growth inhibition. Elimination of phenanthrene started after one day of incubation and was related to the fungus growth.

Degradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by newly isolated Curvularia sp. F18, Lentinus sp. S5, and Phanerochaete sp. T20

“…In addition, this strain showed the potential ability to degrade a mixture of all four of these PAHs. Although fungi in the genus Curvularia have been reported to be able to degrade tricyclic PAHs, such as phenanthrene and anthracene 40,41 , the degradation of fluorene (which has a more complex structure) by fungi in this genus had never been demonstrated prior to this study. Our results indicate that, among the four PAHs tested, Curvularia sp.…”

Quinoline biodegradation by filamentous fungus Cunninghamella elegans and adaptive modifications of the fungal membrane composition

“…The filamentous fungus, C. elegans IM 1785/21Gp, was obtained from the Culture Collection of the Department of Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology, University of Lodz, Poland. The selected fungus had previously been described as a strain capable of 11β-hydroxylation of cortexolone to hydrocortisone (Długoński et al 1997 ) and degradation of phenanthrene and tributyltin (TBT) (Lisowska and Długoński 1999 ; Bernat and Długoński 2002 ).…”

The expression of cytochrome P-450 and cytochrome P-450 reductase genes in the simultaneous transformation of corticosteroids and phenanthrene byCunninghamella elegans

“…Cunninghamella elegans IM 1785/21Gp able to carry out cortexolone hydroxylation in positions 11α‐, and 11β‐, yielding epihydrocortisone and hydrocortisone, respectively (Długoński et al , 1991; Długoński et al , 1997) and PAHs degradation (Lisowska & Długoński, 1999) was used. Trichoderma viride 1131 CBS 354–33 was applied as a source of lytic enzymes, which digest C. elegans cell wall (Długoński et al , 1991; Wilmańska et al , 1992).…”

“…has been profitably applied in research as a microbial model for the mammalian metabolism of xenobiotics, due to its ability to oxidize different compounds using cytochrome P‐450 enzymes (Cerniglia et al , 1992). We have previously documented that Cunninghamella elegans IM 1785/21Gp has an ability to efficiently biotransform phenanthrene and cortexolone (Lisowska & Długoński, 1999, 2003). Phenanthrene is a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) which is often found in polluted environments and is useful as a PAH model for the study of mammalian (Grimmer et al , 1991) and fungal (Bezalel et al , 1997; Boehmer et al , 1998) metabolism, because it is thought to be noncarcinogenic and nonmutagenic, as well as having a fused‐ring structure similar to higher molecular weight carcinogenic PAHs (Samanta et al , 2002).…”