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The physiology of anthracene biodegradation by the white-rot fungus Bjerkandera sp. strain BOS55

  • Environmental Biotechnology
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Abstract

A recently isolated white-rot strain, Bjerkandera sp. strain BOS55, displays high extracellular peroxidase activity, and rapidly degrades polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). In this study, the culture conditions for the biodegradation of the model PAH compound, anthracene, were optimized with respect to O2, N, and C. An additional objective was to determine if the decolorization of the polymeric ligninolytic indicator dye, Poly R-478, could be correlated to anthracene biodegradation observed under a wide range of culture conditions. The supply of O2 was found to be the most important parameter in the biodegradation of anthracene. Increasing culture aeration enhanced the biodegradation of anthracene and the accumulation of its peroxidase-mediated oxidation product anthraquinone. Decolorization of Poly R-478 was less affected by inadequate aeration. Provided that ample aeration was supplied, the degradation of anthracene under different culture conditions was strongly correlated with the ligninolytic activity as indicated by the rate of Poly R-478 decolorization. Concentrations up to 22 mM NH4 + N did not repress anthracene biodegradation and only caused a 0%–40% repression of the Poly R-478 decolorizing activity in various experiments. A cosubstrate requirement of 100 mg glucose / mg anthracene biodegraded was observed in this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Industrial Microbiology, Department of Food Science, Wageningen Agricultural University, P.O. Box 8129, NL-6700 EV, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    M. J. J. Kotterman, E. Heessels, E. de Jong & J. A. Field

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  1. M. J. J. Kotterman
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  2. E. Heessels
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  3. E. de Jong
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  4. J. A. Field
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Kotterman, M.J.J., Heessels, E., de Jong, E. et al. The physiology of anthracene biodegradation by the white-rot fungus Bjerkandera sp. strain BOS55. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 42, 179–186 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00170243

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00170243

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