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Evaluation of multi-heavy metal tolerance traits of soil-borne fungi for simultaneous removal of hazardous metals

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Abstract

The demand for environment-friendly cleanup techniques has arisen due to an increase in environmental pollutants. Fungi is the most prevalent and effective class of heavy metal-resistant microorganisms with the ability to leach metals. The objective of the present study was to isolate the fungi from the agricultural soil of Kashmir valley, investigate their multi-metal tolerance to heavy metals and evaluate the metal uptake capacities of the resistant fungi. The fungi were isolated and identified on the basis of morphological and molecular approach (ITS1 and ITS4). The tolerance limits of the isolated fungal strains to various doses of lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), zinc (Zn), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), and cobalt (Co) was evaluated. Five fungal strains, Aspergillus niger, Fusarium oxysporum, Fusarium verticillioides, Aspergillus fischeri, Epicoccum mackenziei were isolated from the soil samples. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the study of metal resistance of Aspergillus fischeri and Epicoccum mackenziei. Among the identified fungal species, Aspergillus niger and Fusarium oxysporum were found to be most tolerant with a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 600 ppm against Cu and Cr respectively. Results indicated removal of considerable amount of heavy metals by some of the fungi. The highest metal uptake of 8.31 mg/g was found in Fusarium verticillioides for Zn. Surprisingly, these fungal strains demonstrated resistance to metal concentrations above the levels that are universally acceptable for polluted soils, and hence prove to be appealing contenders for use as bioremediation agents for cleaning up heavy metal-polluted environments.

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Data availability

Sequence data that supports the findings of this study have been deposited in the NCBI GenBank with the accession numbers MZ267027, MZ267028, MZ267036, MZ267041, MZ267042.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are highly thankful to the Centre of Research for Development (CORD), University of Kashmir and National Institute of Technology (NIT), Srinagar for providing the laboratory facilities.

Funding

This research work was financially supported by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, under WOS-A Scheme, vide reference no.: SR/WOS-A/LS-470/2018.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Science, University of Kashmir, Srinagar, 190006, India

    Insha Amin

  2. Microbiology Research Laboratory, Centre of Research for Development (CORD), University of Kashmir, Srinagar, 190006, India

    Ruqeya Nazir

  3. Department of Chemical Engineering, National Institute of Technology (NIT), Srinagar, 190006, India

    Mushtaq Ahmad Rather

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  1. Insha Amin
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  2. Ruqeya Nazir
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Contributions

IA: Concept, experimentation, compilation, interpretation of data, data curation, formal analysis, writing– original draft and editing. RN: Concept, interpretation of data, formal analysis, data curation, validation, visualization, review and editing. MAR: Concept, interpretation of data, formal analysis, data curation, validation, visualization, review and editing.

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Correspondence to Ruqeya Nazir.

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Amin, I., Nazir, R. & Rather, M.A. Evaluation of multi-heavy metal tolerance traits of soil-borne fungi for simultaneous removal of hazardous metals. World J Microbiol Biotechnol 40, 175 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-024-03987-z

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