WHITE-ROT FUNGUS IMPLICATIONS IN CLOFIBRIC ACID BIODEGRADATION

The clofibric acid (CLF) is the active compound of blood lipid regulators, which act by lowering serum triglyceride production. This xenobiotic compound is highly persistent in the aquatic environment and passes unchanged or poorly transformed in wastewater treatment plants. There was demonstrated the implications of filamentous fungi in biodegradation of organic compounds with aromatic chemical structure because they are able to produce extracellular phenol oxidases. This work performed a screening of four white-rot fungi, Trametes versicolor, Trametes pubescens, Lenzites betulina and Irpex lacteus based on their potential for extracellular laccase biosynthesis and biodegradation of 15 mg L-1 of CLF, after 14 days of incubation in submerged aerobe conditions by cultivation on a minimal liquid medium containing pharmaceutically active compound. The obtained results reported the ability of the tested fungal strains to remove CLF in percentages varying from 32% to 54%. Further researches target the optimization of the biotechnological conditions for CLF biodegradation in order to enhance the bioremediation yield especially in poluated aquatic system.