title: Widespread ability of fungi to drive quinone redox cycling for biodegradation.
abstract: Wood-rotting fungi possess remarkably diverse extracellular oxidation mechanisms, including enzymes, such as laccase and peroxidases, and Fenton chemistry. The ability to biologically drive Fenton chemistry by the redox cycling of quinones has previously been reported to be present in both ecologically diverging main groups of wood-rotting basidiomycetes. Therefore, we investigated whether it is even more widespread among fungal organisms. Screening of a diverse selection of a total of 18 ascomycetes and basidiomycetes for reduction of the model compound 2,6-dimethoxy benzoquinone revealed that all investigated strains were capable of reducing it to its corresponding hydroquinone. In a second step, depolymerization of the synthetic polymer polystyrene sulfonate was used as a proxy for quinone-dependent Fenton-based biodegradation capabilities. A diverse subset of the strains, including environmentally ubiquitous molds, white-rot fungi, as well as peatland and aquatic isolates, caused substantial depolymerization indicative for the effective employment of quinone redox cycling as biodegradation tool. Our results may also open up new paths to utilize diverse fungi for the bioremediation of recalcitrant organic pollutants.
authors.affiliation: Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Department of Environmental Microbiology, Permoserstr. 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Martin C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Krueger
authors.affiliation: Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Department of Environmental Microbiology, Permoserstr. 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bergmann
authors.affiliation: Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Department of Environmental Microbiology, Permoserstr. 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany dietmar.schlosser@ufz.de.
authors.forename: Dietmar
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Schlosser
mesh_terms: D001203:Ascomycota / Q000378:metabolism*; D001487:Basidiomycota / Q000378:metabolism*; D016227:Benzoquinones / Q000378:metabolism; D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D006861:Hydrogen Peroxide / Q000737:chemistry; D006873:Hydroquinones / Q000378:metabolism*; D007501:Iron / Q000378:metabolism; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D011137:Polystyrenes / Q000378:metabolism; D011809:Quinones / Q000378:metabolism*; D014934:Wood / Q000382:microbiology
chemical_list: D016227:Benzoquinones; D006873:Hydroquinones; D011137:Polystyrenes; D011809:Quinones; C030511:2,6-dimethoxy-1,4-benzoquinone; C003321:polystyrene sulfonic acid; D006861:Hydrogen Peroxide; D007501:Iron; C031927:hydroquinone
keywords: Fenton chemistry; biodegradation; fungi; quinones; redox cycling