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Mineralization of high concentrations of the endocrine disruptor dibutyl phthalate by <i>Fusarium culmorum</i>.

Author
Abstract
:

Dibutyl phthalate (DBP) is a widely used plasticizer, whose presence in the environment as a pollutant raises concern because of its endocrine-disrupting toxicity. Growth kinetics, glucose uptake, biodegradation constant of DBP (k), half-life of DBP biodegradation (t1/2) and percentage of removal efficiency (%E) were evaluated for Fusarium culmorum grown on media containing glucose and different concentrations of DBP (500 and 1000 mg/l). Intermediate compounds of biodegraded DBP were identified by GC-MS and a novel DBP biodegradation pathway was proposed on the basis of the intermolecular flow of electrons of the intermediates identified using quantum chemical modeling. F. culmorum degraded 99% of both 1000 and 500 mg of DBP/l after an incubation period of 168 and 228 h, respectively. %E was 99.5 and 99.3 for 1000 and 500 mg of DBP/l, respectively. The k was 0.0164 and 0.0231 h-1 for 500 and 1000 mg of DBP/l, respectively. DBP was fully metabolized to fumaric and malic acids, which are compounds that enter into the Krebs cycle. F. culmorum has a promising ability for bioremediation of environments polluted with DBP because it efficiently degrades DBP and uses high concentrations of this compound as carbon and energy source.

Year of Publication
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2018
Journal
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3 Biotech
Volume
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8
Issue
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1
Number of Pages
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42
ISSN Number
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2190-572X
URL
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https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13205-017-1065-2
DOI
:
10.1007/s13205-017-1065-2
Short Title
:
3 Biotech
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