Fungi in Bioremediation

An authoritative account of the application of fungi to the treatment of environmental pollution.

G. M. Gadd (Edited by)

9780521065313, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 12 June 2008

496 pages, 41 b/w illus. 21 tables
22.9 x 15.1 x 2.8 cm, 0.716 kg

Review of the hardback: '… this book is a most useful summary of the current understanding of the bioremediation potential of fungi … This book is a major source of references and techniques for anyone interested in using the chemical activities of fungi to transform waste substrates.' Mycopathologia

Bioremediation is an expanding area of environmental biotechnology, and may be defined as the application of biological processes to the treatment of pollution. Much bioremediation work has concentrated on organic pollutants, although the range of substances that can be transformed or detoxified by micro-organisms includes both natural and synthetic organic materials and inorganic pollutants, such as toxic metals. The majority of applications developed to date involve bacteria and there is a distinct lack of appreciation of the potential roles and involvement of fungi in bioremediation, despite clear evidence of their metabolic and morphological versatility. This book highlights the potential of filamentous fungi, including mycorrhizas, in bioremediation and discusses the physiology and chemistry of pollutant transformations.

List of contributors
Preface
1. Degradation of plant cell wall polymers Christine S. Evans and John N. Hedger
2. The biochemistry of ligninolytic fungi Patricia J. Harvey and Christopher F. Thurston
3. Bioremediation potential of white rot fungi C. Adinarayana Reddy and Zacharia Mathew
4. Fungal remediation of soils contaminated with persistent organic pollutants Ian Singleton
5. Formulation of fungi for in situ bioremediation Joan W. Bennett, William J. Connick. Jr., Donald Daigle and Kenneth Wunch
6. Fungal biodegradation of chlorinated monoaromatics and BTEX compounds John A. Buswell
7. Bioremediation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by ligninolytic and non-ligninolytic fungi Carl E. Cerniglia and John B. Sutherland
8. Pesticide degradation Sarah E. Maloney
9. Degradation of energetic compounds by fungi David A. Newcombe and Ronald L. Crawford
10. Use of wood-rotting fungi for the decolourisation of dyes and industrial effluents Jeremy S. Knapp, Eli J. Vantoch-Wood and Fuming Zhang
11. The roles of fungi in agricultural waste conversion Roni Cohen and Yitzhak Hadar
12. Cyanide biodegradation by fungi Michelle Barclay and Christopher J. Knowles
13. Metal transformations Geoffrey M. Gadd
14. Heterotrophic leaching Helmut Brandl
15. Fungal metal biosorption John M. Tobin
16. The potential for utilizing mycorrhizal associations in soil bioremediation Andrew A. Meharg
17. Mycorrhizas and hydrocarbons Marta Noemi Cabello
Index.

Subject Areas: Conservation of wildlife & habitats [RNKH], Mycology, fungi [non-medical PSQ]