Each and every organisms in this world has its significant role.What we have to do is just identify it intellectually.Fungi have unexpected remediation property.

1. MYCOREMEDIATION
By
RATNAKAR UPADHYAY

2. INTRODUCTION
The term Mycoremediation was coined by Paul Stamets
“Mukes” is the greek word which means “Fungus”, & the suffix “remedium”
means “restoring balance”.
Form of Bioremediation in which fungi based technology is used to
decontaminate the environment.
Fungi have been proven to be a very cheap, effective and environmentally
way to remove toxin from damaged environment or waste water.
Mycoremediation – a cheaper solution to remediation.It is often used in
small scale application such as mycofiltration of domestic waste water.
Mycoremediation is even profitable as the byproduct of it is valuable like-
laccase enzyme, edible or medicinal mushrooms.
Enzymes of fungi are non specific & are able to breakdown many kinds of
substance.
The toxin include- heavy metal, persistent organic pollutant, textile dyes,
chemicals from leather tanning industries, polycyclic aromatic compound,
pesticides

3. Mycoremediation has been divided into three
general categories-
1. The target compound is used as carbon source.
2. The target compound is enzymatically attacked but is not
used as carbon source.(Cometabolism)
3. The target is not metabolized at all but is taken up &
concentrated within the organisms (Bioaccumulation).
The attributes that distinguishes filamentous fungi
from other life forms to determine why they are
good biodegraders-
1.The mycelial growth habit.
2.The high Surface to Cell ratio that maximizes both mechanical
& enzymatic contact with the environment.
3.The extracellular nature of the degradative enzymes enables
fungi to tolerate higher concnetration of toxic chemicals.

4. FUNGAL DEGRADATION-
PROCESSES SUBSTRATE SPECIES
COMPOSTING Straw, manure , agricultural
waste & bark
Consortia of Fungi
uncharacterized
MUSHROOM
CULTIVATION
Lignocellulose,Animal
manure, Straw, Saw dust,
Wood logs.
Agaricus bisporus
Pleurotus ostreatus
Lentinus odoides
SOLIDWASTE
TREATMENT
Sludge/ Sewage
Pulp & Paper mill effluent
Consortia of Fungi
Coriolus versicolor
Phanerochaete chrysoporium
WASTEWATER
TREATMENT
Distellary waste
kraft bleaching effluent
Tannery effluent
Yeast especially Candida utilis
Phanerochaete chrysosporium
Aspergillus, Penicillium

5.  One of the primary roles of fungi in the ecosystem is
decomposition, which is performed by the mycelium.The
mycelium secretes extracellular enzymes and acids that break
down lignin and cellulose, the two main building blocks of plant
fiber.These are organic compounds composed of long chains
of carbon and hydrogen, structurally similar to many organic
pollutants.The key to Mycoremediation is determining the
right fungal species to target a specific pollutant.
 In an experiment conducted in conjunction withThomas, a
major contributor in the bioremediation industry, a plot of soil
contaminated with diesel oil was inoculated with mycelia
of oyster mushrooms; traditional bioremediation techniques
(bacteria) were used on control plots. After four weeks, more
than 95% of many of the PAH (polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons) had been reduced to non-toxic components in
the mycelial-inoculated plots. It appears that the natural
microbial community participates with the fungi to break down
contaminants, eventually into carbon dioxide and water.Wood-
degrading fungi are particularly effective in breaking down
aromatic pollutants (toxic components of petroleum), as well as
chlorinated compounds.

6. MUSHROOM AS MYCOREMEDIATIONTOOL
 Remediation through fungi is also called as mycoremediation.
Mycoremediation tool refers to mushrooms and their enzymes
due to having ability to degrade a wide variety of
environmentally persistent pollutants, transform industrial
and agro-industrial wastes into products.
MYCOREMEDIATION POTENTIAL OF
MUSHROOM
 Mushroom uses different methods to decontaminate polluted
spots and stimulate the environment.These methods include -
(i) Biodegradation (ii) Biosorption (iii) Bioconversion.

7. S.
no
.
Mushroom spp.
Waste/Poll
utants Remarks
1. Pleurotus ostreatus
(OYSTER MUSHROOM)
Oxo-
Biodegrada
ble plastic
Mushrooms degraded the plastic and grew on
it.
2. Lentinula edodes 2,4-
dichloroph
enol
Mushrooms degraded 2,4-dichlorophenol
(DCP) by using vanillin as an activator
3. Pleurotus pulmonarius Radioactive
cellulosic-
based
waste
Waste containing mushroom mycellium was
solidified with portland cement and then this
solidified waste act as first barrier against the
release of radiocontaminants
4. jelly sp., Schizophyllum
commune and Polyporo
us sp
malachite
green
99.75% (Jelly sp.), 97.5% (Schizophyllum
commune), 68.5% (Polyporous sp.2) dye was
degraded in 10 days
5. Pleurotus pulmonarius crude oil crude oil was degraded
6. Coriolus versicolor PAH Mushroom possesses ability to degrade Poly-R
478 which decides its suitability to degrade
PAH.

8. VARIOUS CATEGORIES OF WASTES TREATED BY
FUNGI -
1. Fungal treatment of industrial waste.
2. Fungal treatment of distillery & brewery waste.
3. Fungal metabolism of Petroleum Hydrocarbon.
4. Fungal degradation of polychlorinated Biphenyls &
Dioxins.
5. Fungal degradation of Pesticides.
6. Fungal degradation of Phenols, Chlorophenols, &
Pentachlorophenols.
7. Fungal metabolism of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon.
8. Fungal Lignin degradation & decolorization of pulp &
Paper Mill Effluents.
9. Fungal Degradation of dyes.
10. Fungal Biosorption of Heavy Metals.
11. Mycorrhizal Fungi in Rhizosphere remediation.

9. Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon
 PAHs- Class of ubiquitous xenobiotic environmental
pollutants, detected in several aquatic & terrestrial
ecosystems.
 E.g. Naphthalene, Acenaphthene, Anthracene,
Phenanthrene
 SOURCE-
1.Incomplete combustion of fossil fuels.
2.Cigarette smoke
3.Accidental discharge of petroleum products
4. Burning of agricultural & forest residues.
Fungal Species-
Zygomycete- Cunninghamella elegans
Ascomycete- Aspergillus niger, Penicillium spp.
Basidiomycete- Phaenerochaete chrysosporium

10. PESTICIDES -
FUNGUS PESTICIDE MEDIUM Metabolic Products
Phanerochaete
chrysosporium
DDT (insecticide) N-deficient cultures Dicofol, DBP
Trichoderma
harzianum
Endosulfan
(insecticide)
Sucrose mineral
medium
Endosulfan sulfate,
Endosulfan diol
Cunninghamella
elegans
Alachlor(herbicides) Sabouraud dextrose
broth
Four metabolites
Pleurotus
pulmnonarius
Atrazine(herbicides) Soild state
fermentation
CAIT
Coriolus versicolor Iprodione Biobed matrix
C. elegans Vinclozolin Sabouraud dextrose
broth
Four metabolites

11. BIOSORPTION & BIOACCUMULATION OF
HEAVY METALS -
The biological removal of metals from solutions can be
divided into three categories-
(i) Biosorption of metals,ions on the surface of fungi
(ii) Intracellular uptake of metal ions.
(iii) Chemical transformation of metal ions by fungi.
A variety of fungi such as Pleurotus, Aspergillus,
Trichoderma, has proven to be effective in the
removal of Pb, Cd,Ni,Cr,Hg,As,Cu,B,Fe,Zn, in marine
environment, waste water and on land.
The capacity of metals uptake of mushroom has also
been use to recover precious metals from medium
VTTTechnical Research Centre of Finland reported
an 80% recovery of gold from E-waste using
mycofiltration technique.

12. FUTURE PERSPECTIVES-
 Trichoderma herzianum appears to be promising
fungal species to introduce into rhizospheres for
enhanced degradation of pesticides.
 Development of hybrid and improved strains by
protoplast fusion & genetic recombination of
filamentous fungi can be a great alternative.
 At present computer models are unknown in
biosorption technology , but there is great scope for
the exploitation of computer models based on metal
interaction.
 The role of fungi in the sorption of heavy metals may
lead to the development of emerging technology for
the treatment of mineral processing waste water.

13. REFERENCE
 Singh,Harbhajan,2006,John Willey &
Sons.INC.,publication