Degradation of phenol and p-nitrophenol by the white rot polypore Trametes versicolor

MAIRA CARABAJAL ; RENÉ ULLRICH ; LAURA LEVIN ; MARTIN KLUGE ; MARTIN HOFRICHTER

Praga

Simposio; Fifth International Symposium on Biosorption and Bioremediation; 2012

European Federation of Biotechnology

The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential of Trametes versicolor (BAFC 2344) to degrade phenol and p-nitrophenol (NP). Due to their widespread industrial usage and toxicity, these compounds cause serious environmental problems. In vivo-degradation experiments were carried out in immobilized culture for phenol and non-immobilized for NP and evaluated by HPLC. T. versicolor was precultivated on natural sponge (Luffa cilindrica) in tomato juice medium and was then transferred to 15 mM phenol solution. Degradation was performed in static culture over a period of 23 days. Phenol was added three times. Degradation rates ranging between 3.6 mM.d-1 and 1.3 mM.d-1 could be achieved. Along with phenol addition laccase activities were sharply decreasing but were increasing again. Non-immobilized fungal cultures with 0.5 mM NP in glucose-asparagine medium were also able to degrade the pollutant. NP concentration was reduced by 92% within 25 days. The most abundant extracellular enzyme activity was laccase (1,400 U l-1). These results point out that T. versicolor (BAFC 2344) is able to tolerate and degrade phenol and NP, considering NP as usually resistant to fungal degradation. Immobilization on natural sponge combines a high rate of phenol degradation and reutilization in several removal cycles.