Potential of marine-derived fungi and their enzymes in bioremediation of industrial pollutants

Abstract

Increasing discharge and improper management of toxic and colored industrial effluents have created a great concern over their treatment which is economical and safe. Therefore it is imperative to develop cost effective and efficient methods for their remediation. Microbial decolorization and degradation is a promising green technology for the treatment of such effluents. Mycoremediation is a form of bioremediation where fungi (live or dead) are used to degrade or sequester the waste in the environment. Industrial effluents are mostly extreme in pH and rich in salts such as carbonates, chlorides and sulfates. In light of this, marine fungi or marine-derived fungi with their ligninolytic system hold good advantage for their application in remediation of colored effluents since they are better adapted to perform under such extreme conditions. The objective of the present study was to isolate fungi from various marine and coastal habitats, screening them for lignin degrading enzyme production, decolorization of industrial effluents and identification of these fungi using molecular tools. The potential isolates were used for the remediation of various colored effluents. Further, homology studies of lignin degrading enzymes in certain marine-derived fungi were done and an attempt was made to extract a laccase from a marine-derived fungi and its expression in a secondary host.