title: Assessment of degradation potential of aliphatic hydrocarbons by autochthonous filamentous fungi from a historically polluted clay soil.
abstract: The present work was aimed at isolating and identifying the main members of the mycobiota of a clay soil historically contaminated by mid- and long-chain aliphatic hydrocarbons (AH) and to subsequently assess their hydrocarbon-degrading ability. All the isolates were Ascomycetes and, among them, the most interesting was Pseudoallescheria sp. 18A, which displayed both the ability to use AH as the sole carbon source and to profusely colonize a wheat straw:poplar wood chip (70:30, w/w) lignocellulosic mixture (LM) selected as the amendment for subsequent soil remediation microcosms. After a 60 d mycoaugmentation with Pseudoallescheria sp. of the aforementioned soil, mixed with the sterile LM (5:1 mass ratio), a 79.7% AH reduction and a significant detoxification, inferred by a drop in mortality of Folsomia candida from 90 to 24%, were observed. However, similar degradation and detoxification outcomes were found in the non-inoculated incubation control soil that had been amended with the sterile LM. This was due to the biostimulation exerted by the amendment on the resident microbiota, fungi in particular, the activity and density of which were low, instead, in the non-amended incubation control soil.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Environmental Biotechnology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Covino
authors.affiliation: Department of Innovation in Agroforestry and Biological Systems (DIBAF), University of Tuscia, Viterbo, Italy. Electronic address: dannib@unitus.it.
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: D'Annibale
authors.affiliation: Department of Innovation in Agroforestry and Biological Systems (DIBAF), University of Tuscia, Viterbo, Italy.
authors.forename: Silvia Rita
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Stazi
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Environmental Biotechnology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic; Institute of Environmental Studies, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Benátská 2, CZ-128 01 Prague 2, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Tomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Cajthaml
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Environmental Biotechnology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Monika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Čvančarová
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Environmental Biotechnology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Tatiana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Stella
authors.affiliation: Department of Innovation in Agroforestry and Biological Systems (DIBAF), University of Tuscia, Viterbo, Italy.
authors.forename: Maurizio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Petruccioli
mesh_terms: D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D005658:Fungi / Q000378:metabolism*; D006838:Hydrocarbons / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry; D012988:Soil Microbiology; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D006838:Hydrocarbons; D012987:Soil; D012989:Soil Pollutants
keywords: Bioavailability; Bioremediation; Biostimulation; Mycoaugmentation; Oil-contaminated soil; Pseudoallescheria sp.