Unveiling of Concealed Processes for the Degradation of Pharmaceutical Compounds by Neopestalotiopsis sp.

Abstract

The presence of pharmaceutical products has raised emerging biorisks in aquatic environments. Fungi have been considered in sustainable approaches for the degradation of pharmaceutical compounds from aquatic environments. Soft rot fungi of the Ascomycota phylum are the most widely distributed among fungi, but their ability to biodegrade pharmaceuticals has not been studied as much as that of white rot fungi of the Basidiomycota phylum. Herein, we evaluated the capacity of the soft rot fungus Neopestalotiopsis sp. B2B to degrade pharmaceuticals under treatment of woody and nonwoody lignocellulosic biomasses. Nonwoody rice straw induced laccase activity fivefold compared with that in YSM medium containing polysaccharide. But B2B preferentially degraded polysaccharide over lignin regions in woody sources, leading to high concentrations of sugar. Hence, intermediate products from saccharification may inhibit laccase activity and thereby halt the biodegradation of pharmaceutical compounds. These results provide fundamental insights into the unique characteristics of pharmaceutical degradation by soft rot fungus Neopestalotiopsis sp. in the presence of preferred substrates during delignification.

Accelerating the Biodegradation of High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE) Using Bjerkandera adusta TBB-03 and Lignocellulose Substrates

“…Five lignocellulose substrates with different lignin proportions were purchased from a domestic online market. The lignin contents of ash ( Fraxinus rhynchophylla ), fir ( Abies holophylla ), mesquite ( Prosopis spicigera ), hickory ( Carya tomentosa ), and oak ( Quercus alba ) were obtained from our previous research [13] using the acetyl bromide method as described by Moreira-Vilar et al [14], and the values were 11.8 (± 2.9), 12.6 (± 2.0), 15.9 (± 1.1), 4.3 (± 2.0) and 15.2 (± 0.5) (mg lignin/g cell-wall), respectively. Lignocellulose substrates were cut in size 0.7–1.0 cm, washed with distilled water, and dried at 60 °C for 24 h. Two grams of each substrate were injected as the sole carbon source into 250 mL Erlenmeyer flasks containing 100 mL of 1% peptone solution (pH 4.5) before being inoculated with 1% ( v / v ) mycelium inoculum.…”

Fungal-Based Remediation in the Treatment of Anthropogenic Activities and Pharmaceutical-Pollutant-Contaminated Wastewater

“…Moreover, research has indicated that fungi can also employ biosorption to remove pharmaceutical and personal care substances [18]. Several reports have shown the efficient removal of pharmaceutical compounds via filamentous fungi, achieving removal rates ranging from 78% to 100% in synthetic wastewater media [19][20][21][22]. However, previous studies have often exhibited slow degradation rates, with treatment durations exceeding 26 days [14,23,24].…”

“…The colors indicate nonwoody and woody lignocellulosic biomasses in (J,K). The figures are adapted from[19]. * This indicates significantly different concentrations compared to the control are marked by * based on a t-test (* p-value < 0.05).…”