Fungal Biodegradation

Typical biodegradants - fungal growth decreases hydrophobicity of silicone products ... 

Typical biodegradants - fungal cellulases catalyse cleavage of main chain Kalzbauer, B, Polym. Deg. Stab., 59,1-3, 81-4,1998. 

The fungal treatment showed a high efficiency, by completely removing the estrogens (El, E2, and E3), either in biopile or slurry reactors. On the contrary the removal of BFRs in both systems shows differences. Removal after the fungal slurry treatment was rather low compared to the removal obtained in solid-phase system. These results need more research because they are in contradiction with those stated by some researchers that point to the low solubility of these compounds as the limiting factor in its biodegradation. 

Kumar B, Yaduraju NT, Ahuja KN, Prasad D (1993) Effect of soil solarization on weeds and nematodes under tropical Indian conditions. Weed Res 33 423-429 Kurt S, Emir B (2004) Effect of soil solarization, chicken litter and viscera on populations of soilborne fungal pathogens. Plant Pathol J 3 118-124 Kyrikou I, Briassoulis D (2007) Biodegradation of agricultural plastic films a critical review. 

Treatment of bleach mill effluents using the white-rot fungi is promising and offers the option to expand the range of pollutants that cannot be biodegraded by the prokaryotes (bacteria). White-rot fungal remediation may be particularly suited for those recalcitrant compounds for which bioavailability and toxicity are the key issues. 

Quinone/Hydroquinone Formation. In studies on biodegradation of lignin models with ligninolytic cultures of P. chrysosporium (and other fungi), a number of quinones and hydroquinones were isolated. In other studies their formation has been implied from the isolation of their structural counterparts (29,30), where rapid fungal degradation of the quinones prevented their isolation. Various routes to these metabolic intermediates exist, which have been extensively reviewed (26,27). 

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