Degradación biológica de contaminantes orgánicos persistentes por hongos de la podredumbre blanca

Abstract

One of the most important causes that it has changed the environment in a significative way, is the accumulation
of a group of difficult degradation substance, so- called Persistent Organic Compounds (biphenyls polichlorinated,
plaguicides, pesticides and non-intentional compounds). Those are chemicals very stable that are able to travel
considerable distances. They are resistant to natural degradation processes. Most of them are used as plaguicides, some
to be used as chemicals in industrial processes and others are used as by-products that are generated in a non intentional
way starting from certain human activities, such as the combustion processes or energy generation. In DDT case, it has
been found in places where it has not been applied, as occurs in artic zones. White-rot fungi are key regulators in carbon
cycle. Those microorganisms are active degraders of the lignin. Its ligninolytic enzymes are not only directly involved in
the degradation of the lignin but also in the degradation of a wide range of organic complex polymers, some environmental
pollutants, with a similar chemical structure to lignin. This is due to the unspecificity of its multienzymatic system; this
characteristic opens a space for bioremediation processes. In this paper the authors show preliminary results of laccase and
MnP ligninolytic enzymes induction using DDT as inducer of enzymatic activities employing native White-rot fungi strains.