Exposure to mycotoxins, secondary metabolites produced by fungi, may infer serious risks for animal and human health and lead to economic losses. Several approaches to reduce these mycotoxins have been investigated such as chemical removal, physical binding, or microbial degradation. This review focuses on the microbial degradation or transformation of mycotoxins, with specific attention to the...

A method with the combined advantages of soil particle washing, selective inhibitors, and an indicator substrate was developed to isolate saprophytic basidiomycetes from soil. Organic particles were washed from soil and plated on a medium containing lignin, guaiacol, and benomyl, which reduced mold growth and allowed detection of basidiomycetes producing laccase or peroxidase. The 64 soil sampl...

Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) are widely used for the removal of recalcitrant organic constituents from industrial and municipal wastewater. The aim of this study was to review the use of titanium dioxide/UV light process, hydrogen peroxide/UV light process and Fenton’s reactions in wastewater treatment. The main reactions and the operating parameters (initial concentration of the target ...

Degradation of marine organic carbon provides a major source of atmospheric carbon dioxide, whereas preservation in sediments results in accumulation of oxygen. These processes involve the slow decay of chemically recalcitrant compounds and physical protection. To assess the importance of physical protection, we constructed a reaction-diffusion model in which organic matter differs only in its ...

Laccases are an interesting group of multi copper enzymes, which have received much attention of researchers in the last decades due to their ability to oxidise both phenolic and nonphenolic lignin-related compounds as well as highly recalcitrant environmental pollutants. This makes these biocatalysts very useful for their application in several biotechnological processes, including the food in...

Explosives materials are stable in soil and recalcitrant to biodegradation. Different authors report that TNT (2,4,6-trinitrotoluene), RDX (hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine) and HMX (octahydro-1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazocine) are toxic, but most investigations have been performed in artificial soil with individual substances. The aim of the presented research was to assess the tox...

Bioremediation is an attractive technology that utilizes the metabolic potential of microorganisms in order to clean up the environmental pollutants to the less hazardous or non-hazardous forms with less input of chemicals, energy and time. Whiterot fungi are unique organisms that show the capacities of degrading and mineralizing lignin as well as organic, highly toxic and recalcitrant compound...

We show in this study that the combination of a swirl flow reactor and an antimicrobial agent (in this case copper alginate beads) is a promising technique for the remediation of contaminated water in waste streams recalcitrant to UV-C treatment. This is demonstrated by comparing the viability of both common and UV-C resistant organisms in operating conditions where UV-C proves ineffective - no...

The complete genome sequence of Brevundimonas diminuta represented a chromosome (∼4.15 Mb) and two plasmids (pCMS1 and pCMS2) with sizes of 65,908 and 30,654 bp, respectively. The sequence of the genome showed no significant similarity with the known bacterial genome sequences, instead showed weak similarity with the members of different genera of family, Sphingomonadaceae. Contradicting existi...