Lead (II) Tolerance and Uptake Capacities of Fungi Isolated from a Polluted Tributary in the Philippines

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2019

Abstract

The Lead [Pb(II)] tolerance and uptake ability of four fungal species, two from the genus Penicillium and two from the genus Talaromyces were investigated in this study. The species were isolated from a polluted tributary and identified to be closest to P. canescens, P. simplicissimum, T. macrosporus and another Talaromyces sp. via PCR targeting their internal transcribed spacer 1 and 4 sequences. All isolates have tolerances for up to 2000 µg/mL and 3000 µg/mL Pb(II) on solid and liquid medium, respectively. Both Penicillium isolates showed increasing removal rates dependent on initial Pb(II) concentration at 500 to 2000 µg/mL, while removal rates of both Talaromyces isolates were not significantly influenced by initial Pb(II) concentrations. The Pb(II) uptake of all isolates increased with increasing Pb(II) concentration but was depressed at 3000 µg/mL, with the exception of T. macrosporus. The recorded total uptake capacities for both Penicillium isolates in this study were higher than in most literature, at 7.0 – 407.4 mg/g and 50.8 – 412.6 mg/g for P. canescens and P. simplicissimum, respectively. The study also reported the exemplary Pb(II) uptake capacities of both Talaromyces isolates at 58.9 – 601.0 mg/g and 60.9 – 402.3 mg/g for T. macrosporus and Talaromyces sp., respectively. These results signify the excellent Pb(II) removal capabilities of all isolates which may further be developed for use as mycoremediation tools to remove Pb(II) from heavy metal contaminated environments.

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