Multiple heavy metal tolerance and removal by an earthworm gut fungus Trichoderma brevicompactum QYCD-6

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 10; no. 1; p. 6940
• Main Authors: Zhang, Ding, Yin, Caiping, Abbas, Naeem, Mao, Zhenchuan, Zhang, Yinglao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 24.04.2020; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 13; 13/105; 631/326/2522; 704/172/169/896; Animals; Bioaccumulation; Biodegradation, Environmental; Biomass; Bioremediation; Biosorption; Cadmium; Carbon-13 Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; Carbonyl compounds; Chromium; Copper; Dextrose; Fungi; Gastrointestinal Microbiome - drug effects; Heavy metals; Humanities and Social Sciences; Kinetics; Lead; Metal concentrations; Metal industry wastewaters; Metals, Heavy - isolation & purification; Metals, Heavy - toxicity; Microbial Sensitivity Tests; Minimum inhibitory concentration; multidisciplinary; NMR; Nuclear magnetic resonance; Oligochaeta - growth & development; Oligochaeta - microbiology; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; Trichoderma; Trichoderma - drug effects; Trichoderma - growth & development; Trichoderma - physiology; Trichoderma - ultrastructure; Wastewater; Wastewater treatment; Water pollution; Worms
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-63813-y

Fungal bioremediation is a promising approach to remove heavy-metal from contaminated water. Present study examined the ability of an earthworm gut fungus Trichoderma brevicompactum QYCD-6 to tolerate and remove both individual and multi-metals. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of heavy metals [Cu(II), Cr(VI), Cd(II) and Zn(II)] against the fungus was ranged 150–200 mg L −1 on composite medium, and MIC of Pb(II) was the highest with 1600 mg L −1 on potato dextrose (PD) medium. The Pb(II) presented the highest metal removal rate (97.5%) which mostly dependent on bioaccumulation with 80.0%, and synchronized with max biomass (6.13 g L −1 ) in PD medium. However, on the composite medium, the highest removal rate was observed for Cu(II) (64.5%). Cellular changes in fungus were reflected by TEM analysis. FTIR and solid-state NMR analyses indicated the involvement of different functional groups (amino, carbonyl, hydroxyl, et al .) in metallic biosorption. These results established that the earthworm-associated T. brevicompactum QYCD-6 was a promising fungus for the remediation of heavy-metal wastewater.