Myco-Remediation of Textile Wastewater and its Re-Usability in Irrigation

Environmental pollution by synthetic dye contained textile wastewater effluents disturb the human health and ecological equilibrium. Therefore, present study was focused on myco-remediation of textile wastewater effluents that generated from local textile dyeing industries. Three fungal strains; Aspergillus niger, A. aculeatus and A. nomius which previously isolated and identified as potential dye decolorising agents, were screened for its potential applicability on decolorisation of textile wastewater effluents. Four cylinders of each fungal isolates were introduced into 100 mL of three textile wastewater effluents obtained from Biyagama (BW), Pugoda (PW) and Negambo (NW) in Sri Lanka, without addition of further nutrients. All the experiments were carried out in triplicates and controls were maintained without addition of fungi. Samples were incubated at 28o C under shaking conditions (100 rpm). Percentage color removal was calculated by measuring the changes of the absorbance at maximum wavelength for each effluent. A. niger showed complete decolorisation of BW, PW and NW effluents within 48h of incubation while A. aculeatus and A. nomius taking 72 h for the same. Controls showed no decolorisation after 72 h. The treated effluents by A .niger, which showed rapid decolorisation of wastewater samples compared to the other two species, was used for the assessment of phytotoxicity for evaluation of the potential applicability on two commercially important edible plants (Oryza sativa and Vigna radiata) in Sri Lanka. The germination percentages of both O. sativa and V. radiata were less than 10% for all three wastewater effluents. Remarkably, 100% germination performance was observed for both O. sativa and V. radiata for the biologically treated effluents confirming the re-usability of selected wastewater effluents for the irrigation purposes. Though the biologically treated textile wastewater effluents cannot used for the drinking purposes directly without further purifications, present study confirmed the potential usability of biologically treated textile wastewater effluents on irrigation purposes.Keyword: Decolorisation, Myco-remediation, Fungi, Aspergillu

Polyaromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) Degradation Ability of Penicillium spp. Isolated from Phyllosphere of Urban Areas in Sri Lanka

Polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), like highly toxic pollutants, are released into the air by various anthropogenic sources, and then they get settled on ground level surfaces as phyllosphere. Phyllosphere is an excellent niche to diverse fungi, and some of them are with PAH degradation capabilities. Out of them, Penicillium spp., which are highly abundant in different natural and contaminated atmospheres, have been leading for many research due to their high degree of physiological and genetic adaptation to degrade broad range of polyaromatic compounds. Therefore, this research attempted to determine the PAH (phenanthrene, anthracene, naphthalene and pyrene) degradation capability of phyllosphere inhabited Penicillium species. Fungal isolations were done from leaf samples collected from Panchikawatta, Orugodawatta, Pettah, Maradana, Colombo Fort and Sapugaskanda oil refinery sites in Sri Lanka. Isolated Penicillium spp. were identified up to genus level through colony morphology and microscopic observations. PAH degradation ability of isolated Penicillium spp. was screened using plate assay and confirmed through High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) analysis. Further, toxicity assays were performed. HPLC analysis results revealed that Penicillium sp. 1 showed the efficient degradation on phenanthrene (79%) and naphthalene (78%) while Penicillium sp. 2 showed the most efficient degradation on Anthracene (80%) and pyrene (66%) Toxicity assays results revealed that the metabolites of these PAHs degradation mechanism were not toxic for the growth of Penicillum spp, and also confirmed that those by-products were not harmful to the phyllosphere. All in all, Penicillium spp. showed efficient phenanthrene, anthracene, naphthalene, and pyrene like PAH degradation ability, with more than 54% of PAH degradation. Therefore this phyllosphere Penicillium spp. can be used in bioremediation of polluted air in the urbanized areas

Effectiveness of Aspergillus aculeatus on Decolorisation of Mixture of Two Different Textile Dye Classes

Textile dye effluents are one of the major type of water pollutants that release to the environment in huge loads. Textile dyes are resistant to natural degradation process and persist in the environment for a long time. Use of conventional chemical and physical treatment methods to textile dye effluents are highly expensive with having several drawbacks, thus not employed frequently. Therefore, the present study was aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the isolated fungus; Aspergillus aculeatus for decolorisation of mixture of CI Direct Blue 201 (direct dye) and Cibacron Blue FR (reactive dye) dye classes. Four discs (5 mm diameter) of pre grown A. aculeatus fungal mycelia, which cut from the edges were inoculated into 250 mL of dye mixture at final concentration of 50 ppm (1:1 w/w), following enrichment with Potato Dextrose Broth (PDB) incubated in 100 rpm at 280° C for 7 days. Decolorisation of the dye mixture was evaluated by measuring the changes of the absorbance using UV-Visible spectrophotometer. Toxicity of the decolorized dye solutions was evaluated using the seed germination assay for Oryza sativa and Vigna radiata seeds. A. aculeatus showed 98%±2 decolorisation within 72h of incubation and decolorisation was highly suppressed at static conditions (46%±1 at 72h of incubation). Decolorisation was well effective up to five cycles at repeated addition of textile dyes to same initial fungal biomass. It was found that dead fungal biomass absorbed only 12%±2 of dye mixture at the same incubation period, suggesting that decolorisation take place with having live biomass of A. aculeatus confirming biotransformation of the dyes by the organism rather than adsorption. Seed germination assay shown that decolorised dye mixture was not toxic (100% germination for both seed species) compared to the original dye mixture (16.2±2.08 germination in O. sativa and 10.0±3.3% germination in V. radiata). Thus, the present study revealed that the fungus A. aculeatus is a potential candidate to use as a biological agent to remove textile dyes mentioned as a green approach to treat textile dye contained effluent. Further studies for other dyes are being evaluated.Keywords: Decolorisation, Aspergillus aculeatus, Textile dye, CI Direct Blue 201, Cibacron Blue F

Incorporating molecular data in fungal systematics: a guide for aspiring researchers

The last twenty years have witnessed molecular data emerge as a primary research instrument in most branches of mycology. Fungal systematics, taxonomy, and ecology have all seen tremendous progress and have undergone rapid, far-reaching changes as disciplines in the wake of continual improvement in DNA sequencing technology. A taxonomic study that draws from molecular data involves a long series of steps, ranging from taxon sampling through the various laboratory procedures and data analysis to the publication process. All steps are important and influence the results and the way they are perceived by the scientific community. The present paper provides a reflective overview of all major steps in such a project with the purpose to assist research students about to begin their first study using DNA-based methods. We also take the opportunity to discuss the role of taxonomy in biology and the life sciences in general in the light of molecular data. While the best way to learn molecular methods is to work side by side with someone experienced, we hope that the present paper will serve to lower the learning threshold for the reader.Comment: Submitted to Current Research in Environmental and Applied Mycology - comments most welcom

WWER-1000 Nuclear reactor simulator for education. Part A': Overview of simulator physico-mathematical model components

A review of phylogenetic studies carried out together with morphological ones shows that a major problem with most early studies is that they concentrated on techniques and used material or strains of fungi that in most cases were not carefully reference, and in a worrying number of cases wrongly named. Most classical species, particularly of microfungi, are not represented by adequate type material, or other authoritatively identified cultures or specimens, that can serve as DNA sources for phylogenetic study, or for developing robust identification systems. Natural classifications of fungi therefore suffer from the lack of reference strains in resultant phylogenetic trees. In some cases, epitypification and neotypification can solve this problem and these tools are increasingly used to resolve taxonomic confusion and stabilize the understanding of species, genera, families, or orders of fungi. This manuscript discusses epitypification and neotypification, describes how to epitypify or neotypify species and examines the importance of this process. A set of guidelines for epitypification is presented. Examples where taxa have been epitypified are presented and the benefits and problems of epitypification are discussed. As examples of epitypification, or to provide reference specimens, a new epitype is designated for Paraphaeosphaeria michotii and reference specimens are provided for Astrosphaeriella stellata, A. bakeriana, Phaeosphaeria elongata, Ophiobolus cirsii, and O. erythrosporus. In this way we demonstrate how to epitypify taxa and its importance, and also illustrate the value of proposing reference specimens if epitypification is not advisable. Although we provided guidelines for epitypification, the decision to epitypify or not lies with the author, who should have experience of the fungus concerned. This responsibility is to be taken seriously, as once a later typification is made, it may not be possible to undo that, particularly in the case of epitypes, without using the lengthy and tedious formal conservation and rejection processes

Finding needles in haystacks: linking scientific names, reference specimens and molecular data for Fungi

DNA phylogenetic comparisons have shown that morphology-based species recognition often underestimates fungal diversity. Therefore, the need for accurate DNA sequence data, tied to both correct taxonomic names and clearly annotated specimen data, has never been greater. Furthermore, the growing number of molecular ecology and microbiome projects using high-throughput sequencing require fast and effective methods for en masse species assignments. In this article, we focus on selecting and re-annotating a set of marker reference sequences that represent each currently accepted order of Fungi. The particular focus is on sequences from the internal transcribed spacer region in the nuclear ribosomal cistron, derived from type specimens and/or ex-type cultures. Re-annotated and verified sequences were deposited in a curated public database at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), namely the RefSeq Targeted Loci (RTL) database, and will be visible during routine sequence similarity searches with NR_prefixed accession numbers. A set of standards and protocols is proposed to improve the data quality of new sequences, and we suggest how type and other reference sequences can be used to improve identification of Fungi

Incorporating molecular data in fungal systematics: a guide for aspiring researchers

The last twenty years have witnessed molecular data emerge as a primary research instrument in most branches of mycology. Fungal systematics, taxonomy, and ecology have all seen tremendous progress and have undergone rapid, far-reaching changes as disciplines in the wake of continual improvement in DNA sequencing technology. A taxonomic study that draws from molecular data involves a long series of steps, ranging from taxon sampling through the various laboratory procedures and data analysis to the publication process. All steps are important and influence the results and the way they are perceived by the scientific community. The present paper provides a reflective overview of all major steps in such a project with the purpose to assist research students about to begin their first study using DNA-based methods. We also take the opportunity to discuss the role of taxonomy in biology and the life sciences in general in the light of molecular data. While the best way to learn molecular methods is to work side by side with someone experienced, we hope that the present paper will serve to lower the learning threshold for the reader

Finding needles in haystacks: Linking scientific names, reference specimens and molecular data for Fungi

DNA phylogenetic comparisons have shown that morphology-based species recognition often underestimates fungal diversity. Therefore, the need for accurate DNA sequence data, tied to both correct taxonomic names and clearly annotated specimen data, has never been greater. Furthermore, the growing number of molecular ecology and microbiome projects using high-throughput sequencing require fast and effective methods for en masse species assignments. In this article, we focus on selecting and re-annotating a set of marker reference sequences that represent each currently accepted order of Fungi. The particular focus is on sequences from the internal transcribed spacer region in the nuclear ribosomal cistron, derived from type specimens and/or ex-type cultures. Reannotated and verified sequences were deposited in a curated public database at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), namely the RefSeq Targeted Loci (RTL) database, and will be visible during routine sequence similarity searches with NR_prefixed accession numbers. A set of standards and protocols is proposed to improve the data quality of new sequences, and we suggest how type and other reference sequences can be used to improve identification of Fungi.B.R. and C.L.S. acknowledge support from the Intramural Research Program of the National Institutes of Health, National Library of MedicinePeer Reviewe

Finding needles in haystacks:Linking scientific names, reference specimens and molecular data for Fungi

DNA phylogenetic comparisons have shown that morphology-based species recognition often underestimates fungal diversity. Therefore, the need for accurate DNA sequence data, tied to both correct taxonomic names and clearly annotated specimen data, has never been greater. Furthermore, the growing number of molecular ecology and microbiome projects using high-throughput sequencing require fast and effective methods for en masse species assignments. In this article, we focus on selecting and re-annotating a set of marker reference sequences that represent each currently accepted order of Fungi. The particular focus is on sequences from the internal transcribed spacer region in the nuclear ribosomal cistron, derived from type specimens and/or ex-type cultures. Reannotated and verified sequences were deposited in a curated public database at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), namely the RefSeq Targeted Loci (RTL) database, and will be visible during routine sequence similarity searches with NR_prefixed accession numbers. A set of standards and protocols is proposed to improve the data quality of new sequences, and we suggest how type and other reference sequences can be used to improve identification of Fungi.The Intramural Research Programs of the National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine and the National Human Genome Research Institute, both at the National Institutes of Health.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/PRJNA177353am201