Abstract
Dimethyl phthalate esters (DMPEs), which belong to phthalate esters (PAEs), are widely distributed environmental pollutants with endocrine-disrupting toxicity. The present study focused on a filamentous fungus capable of degrading DMPEs isolated from deep-sea sediments of the Indian Ocean at a water depth of 3300 m using an enrichment culture technique. The filamentous fungus was identified as Aspergillus versicolor IR-M4 based on internal transcribed spacer gene sequence analysis. The degradation pathways of three isomers of DMPEs [dimethyl phthalate (DMP), dimethyl isophthalate (DMI) and dimethyl terephthalate (DMT)] were investigated with this marine fungus. The results showed that A. versicolor IR-M4 was able to degrade DMI to monomethyl isophthalate (MMI) from an initial concentration of 21.52 mg l−1 to undetectable in 2 days of incubation, but without the ability for further degradation of MMI. The marine fungus also conducted sequential cleavage of the ester bonds of DMT to terephthalic acid (TA) via monomethyl terephthalate, and TA was the final end product and was resistant to further metabolism. However, this marine fungus was not able to degrade DMP. The different metabolic pathways of the three DMPE isomers by the fungus suggest that the phthalate esterases produced by A. versicolor IR-M4 have a very high substrate specificity for DMPEs and monomethyl phthalate esters (MMPEs).
About the authors
Jing-Wen Wang received her Master’s degree from the Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University. Her research is on biodegradation of phthalate esters by marine fungi.
Wei Xu is currently an Assistant Professor at the Key Laboratory of Marine Biogenetic Resources, Third Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, China. Dr. Xu’s research focuses on fungal diversity and nitrogen related microorganisms in deep-sea environments by deep sequencing and metagenomic analysis.
Tian-Hua Zhong is an Assistant Professor at the Third Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, China. His current research focuses on bioactive compounds from marine microorganisms.
Gao-Yang He is a Master’s candidate at Shantou University. His current research is on biodegradation of organic pollutants by marine fungi.
Zhu-Hua Luo is currently a Professor at the Third Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, China. His research interest includes fungal diversity in marine environments and biodegradation of organic pollutants by marine fungi.
Acknowledgments
The work was financially supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (41376171) and National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program, 2015CB755903).
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