Degradation of 2,4-dichlorophenol and pentachlorophenol by two brown rot fungi

Wheat straw cultures of the brown rot fungi Gloeophyllum striatum and G.tra beum degraded 2,4-dichlorophenol and pentachlorophenol. Up to 54% and 27% ( CO2)-C-14, respectively, were liberated from uniformly C-14-labeled substra tes within 6 weeks. Under identical conditions Trametes versicolor, a typic al white rot species employed as reference, evolved up to 42% and 43% (CO2) -C-14 and expressed high activities of laccase, manganese peroxidase, and m anganese-independent peroxidase. No such activity could be detected in stra w or liquid cultures of Gloeophyllum. Moreover, G. striatum degraded both c hlorophenols most efficiently under non-cometabolic conditions, i.e. on a d efined mineral medium lacking sources of carbon, nitrogen and phosphate. (C ) 1999 Federation of European Microbiological Societies. Published by Elsev ier Science B.V. All rights reserved.