Comparative In Vitro Assessment of Hydrocarbon Degradation Potential of Pleurotus ostreatus MP 5 and Pleurotus ostreatus MTCC 1804

Abstract

Mycoremediation, involving the use of fungus for bioremediation, is one of the promising cost-effective methods for cleaning up the carcinogenic and mutagenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons present in the environment. The present study deals with the isolation of white rot fungus from Chhattisgarh forest, India followed by identification based on ITS sequencing. Identification revealed MP 5 closely related to Pleurotus ostreatus isolate 6689 with 99% sequence similarity. Comparative primary screening assay of both the wild isolate and reference strain of Pleurotus ostreatus MTCC 1804 was performed by measuring the growth diameter of mycelia on minimal salt media enriched with 2% used engine oil (v/v). The fungal isolate MP 5 showed highest average growth rate. Confirmatory test was conducted via orbital shaking method and spectroscopic study was carried out at 600 nm which displayed degradation within 7 days and percentage of degradation was calculated. Level of degradation was 69.7 ± 0.351% and 64.7 ± 1.153% respectively for Pleurotus ostreatus MP 5 and Pleurotus ostreatus MTCC 1804. Degradation potential of both the isolates was evaluated in terms of chemical characterization via Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) which revealed bands formation based on the presence of different functional groups indicating oxidative degradation of hydrocarbons.