DEGRADATION OF ANTHRACENE BY SELECTED WHITE-ROT FUNGI

Approximately 60% of the originally supplied anthracene (AC) was degra ded in ligninolytic stationary cultures of selected white rot fungi wi thin 21 days. All the white rot fungi tested oxidized AC to anthraquin one (AQ). Unlike Phanerochaete chrysosporium and strain Px, with Pleur otus ostreatus, Coriolopsis polyzona and Trametes versicolor, AQ did n ot accumulate in the cultures, indicating that AQ was degraded further and its degradation did not appear to be a rate-limiting step. Howeve r, P. ostreatus and C. polyzona failed to degrade AQ in the absence of AC. P. ostreatus, T. versicolor and strain Pr did not produce lignin peroxidase (ligninase) (LIP) under the test conditions but oxidized AC to AQ suggesting that white rot fungi produce enzyme(s) other than LI P capable of oxidizing compounds with high ionization potential like A C. Moreover, in the case of Ph. chrysosporium and C. polyzona, AC degr adation started earlier than the production of LIP. Veratryl alcohol ( VA) seemed to be playing a role in AC oxidation catalyzed by LIP in Ph . chrysosporium.