Fungal bioremediation of pollutant.

Abstract

Advancement in industrialization and urbanization has caused influx of contaminants into the environment polluting the soil, water and the air. These contaminants come in various forms and structure some of which include; heavy metals, petroleum hydrocarbons, industrial dyes, pharmaceutical active compounds, pesticides, and many other toxic chemicals. The presence of these pollutants in the environment poses serious threat to living things including man. Various conventional methods have been developed to tackle this menace, though effective, is however not safe for the ecosystem. Interestingly, bioremediation has offered a cheap, effective and environmentally safe method for removal of recalcitrant pollutants from the environment. White-rot fungi (WRF), belonging to the basidiomycetes has shown class and proven to be an excellent tool in bioremediation of the most difficult organic pollutants in the form of lignin. White-rot fungi possess extracellular lignin modified enzymes (LMEs) made up of laccases (Lac), manganese peroxidase (MnP), lignin peroxidase (LiP), and versatile peroxidase (VP) that are not specific to a particular substrate, causes opening of aromatic rings and cleavage of bonds through oxidation and reduction among many other pathways. The physiology of WRF, non-specificity of LMEs coupled with varying intracellular enzymes such as cytochrome P450 remove pollutants through biodegradation, biosorption, bioaccumulation, biomineralization, and biotransformation among many other mechanisms. The application of WRF on a laboratory and pilot scale has provided positive outcomes; however, there are couples of limitations encountered when applied in the field, which can be overcome through improvement in the genome of promising strains.