Diverse Metabolic Capacities of Fungi for Bioremediation

Bioremediation refers to cost-effective and environment-friendly method for converting the toxic, recalcitrant pollutants into environmentally benign products through the action of various biological treatments. Fungi play a major role in bioremediation owing to their robust morphology and diverse metabolic capacity. The review focuses on different fungal groups from a variety of habitats with their role in bioremediation of different toxic and recalcitrant compounds; persistent organic pollutants, textile dyes, effluents from textile, bleached kraft pulp, leather tanning industries, petroleum, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, pharmaceuticals and personal care products, and pesticides. Bioremediation of toxic organics by fungi is the most sustainable and green route for cleanup of contaminated sites and we discuss the multiple modes employed by fungi for detoxification of different toxic and recalcitrant compounds including prominent fungal enzymes viz., catalases, laccases, peroxidases and cyrochrome P450 monooxygeneses. We have also discussed the recent advances in enzyme engineering and genomics and research being carried out to trace the less understood bioremediation pathways

The Marine-Derived Filamentous Fungi in Biotechnology

For a long time considered as essentially terrestrial organisms, filamentous fungi have recently disclosed to be widespread in marine habitats. Such a pervasiveness not only concerns obligate marine species but also a multitude of taxa known from disparate terrestrial substrates whose occurrence at sea, at first considered incidental, is now regarded as an evidence of extreme ecological flexibility. Actually, the peculiar physico-chemical properties of the marine environment are presumed to have induced special physiological adaptations that could be considered in view of a possible biotechnological exploitation of fungal strains recovered from marine sources. The potential of filamentous fungi reported from marine contexts for the manifold applications in biotechnology involving microbial strains is revised in this chapter