Potential of Penicillium cyclopium westling for removing of anionic surfactants and biotechnology

Abstract

© 2015, Pleiades Publishing, Inc. The ability of native wild isolate Penicillium cyclopium Westling to degrade commercial detergent Merix (Henkel, Serbia) as well as the influence of detergent on activities of some fungal enzymes was in the focus of this study. The fungus was isolated from the riverbed of Western Morava (Čačak, Serbia), at a place where municipal wastewater discharged into the river. The fungus was grown in Czapek-Dox liquid nutrient medium without and with addition of 0.3% detergent. The physico-chemical and biochemical changes of pH, redox potential, total biomass dry weight, activities of alkaline (AlkI) and acid (AcI) invertases and alkaline protease were evaluated from 3-rd to 16-th day of fungal growth. Also, detergent disappearance in terms of methylene blue active substances in the medium was measured. The detergent caused an inhibitory effect on fungal growth and biomass dry weight (about 33.4%). In spite of that, the fungus degraded about 47.0% of anionic surfactant of detergent after 16 days of incubation. The detergent stimulated AcI activity of P. cyclopium but inhibited AlkI and protease activities. Alkaline protease of the fungus retained high percentage of activity (87.7%) in presence of tested detergent. The obtained results indicate the potential of fungus in removing of surfactants and biotechnology.