Degradative activity and production of the extracellular peroxidases by micromycetes with different ecological strategy

Environmental pollution by natural and man-made pollutants remains a serious problem. Agricultural areas are contaminated by major and hazardous pollutants such as oil, which comes from local oil-producing and oil-refining facilities, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which result from natural fires and from human activity associated with the use of flammable organic raw materials. This presents the hazard of accumulation of toxic substances in food and fodder plants. Natural ecosystems have powerful detoxifying potential, which is ensured by the degradative activity of microorganisms, including ascomycetes - one of the largest groups in the fungal kingdom. Here we examined the degradation of oil and PAHs by micromycetes with different ecological strategies and detected ligninolytic enzymes implicated in the oxidation of the pollutants. We used four ascomycete strains with different taxonomic affiliations and ecological strategies. These were Fusarium oxysporum IBPPM543, Lecanicillium aphanocladii IBPPM542, Cladosporium herbarum MUT3238, and Geotrichum candidum MUT4803...