Isolation of Ascomycota fungi with capability to transform PAHs: Insights into the biodegradation mechanisms of Penicillium oxalicum Aranda Ballesteros, Elisabet Godoy, Patricia Reina Prego, Rocío Badia-Fabregat, Marina Rosell, Mònica Marco-Urrea, Ernest García-Romera, Inmaculada Hydrocarbon-polluted water Fungi PAHs Ascomycota Penicillium oxalicum Cytochrome P450 (CYPs) This work was supported by the Junta de Andalucía (project P09-CVI-4778) and analysis at CCiTUB by the project of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO), [grant number CGL2014-57215-C4-1-R]. EA and MR gratefully acknowledge Ramón y Cajal contracts from MINECO [grant numbers RYC-2013-12481 and RYC-2012-11920, respectively] and the FEDER co-founder. EMU and MBF acknowledge support from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and FEDER [grant number CTM2013-48545-C2-1-R] and are supported by the Generalitat de Catalunya [Grant number 2014-SGR-476). The aim of this study was to gain insight into the ability of fungi present in a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH)-contaminated pond as remediation agents. Eight of the 10 strains isolated belonging to Ascomycota fungi and were able to remove anthracene after 21 days. Among them, Penicillium oxalicum was selected for further studies. Time course experiments showed that P. oxalicum completely removed anthracene and dibenzothiophene within 4 days, as well as phenanthrene and dibenzofuran, although at slower rates. Induction of oxygenase activity in the subcellular fraction of the fungal mycelium exposed to these aromatic compounds was deeply studied. Besides, the reduction of the conversion rate in the presence of a cytochrome P450 (CYP) inhibitor indicates a role in the first step of transformation of PAHs. The use of a defined growth medium with low carbon content for stable isotope tracer experiments using 13C6-anthracene showed that glucose was required to proceed with anthracene degradation by P. oxalicum. Mineralization of anthracene could not be proved in these experiments, but 13C-labelled oxy- and hydroxy-derivatives were identified by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) as major metabolites. These results show the potential application of the isolated fungus P. oxalicum in biotechnological pollutant removal processes. 2026-03-04T08:06:15Z 2026-03-04T08:06:15Z 2017-05-23 journal article Aranda, E., Godoy, P., Reina, R., Badia-Fabregat, M., Rosell, M., Marco-Urrea, E., & García-Romera, I. (2017). Isolation of Ascomycota fungi with capability to transform PAHs: Insights into the biodegradation mechanisms of Penicillium oxalicum. International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation, 122, 141-150. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ibiod.2017.05.015 https://hdl.handle.net/10481/111869 10.1016/j.ibiod.2017.05.015 eng open access Elsevier