Roles of saprotrophic fungi in biodegradation or transformation of organic and inorganic pollutants in co-contaminated sites

Andrea Ceci, Flavia Pinzari, Fabiana Russo, Anna Maria Persiani (Lead / Corresponding author), Geoffrey Michael Gadd

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

60 Citations (Scopus)
808 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

For decades, human activities, industrialization, and agriculture have contaminated soils and water with several compounds, including potentially toxic metals and organic persistent xenobiotics. The co-occurrence of those toxicants poses challenging environmental problems, as complicated chemical interactions and synergies can arise and lead to severe and toxic effects on organisms. The use of fungi, alone or with bacteria, for bioremediation purposes is a growing biotechnology with high potential in terms of cost-effectiveness, an environmental-friendly perspective and feasibility, and often representing a sustainable nature-based solution. This paper reviews different ecological, metabolic, and physiological aspects involved in fungal bioremediation of co-contaminated soils and water systems, not only addressing best methods and approaches to assess the simultaneous presence of metals and organic toxic compounds and their consequences on provided ecosystem services but also the interactions between fungi and bacteria, in order to suggest further study directions in this field.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)53-68
Number of pages16
JournalApplied Microbiology and Biotechnology
Volume103
Issue number1
Early online date25 Oct 2018
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2019

Keywords

  • Biodegradation
  • Biotransformation
  • Co-contamination
  • Organic pollutants
  • Potentially toxic metals
  • Soil saprotrophic fungi
  • Xenobiotics

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Biotechnology
  • Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology

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