Mycoremediation of 17 β-Estradiol Using Trichoderma citrinoviride Strain AJAC3 along with Enzyme Studies

Extensive and inappropriate use of steroids in drugs and pharmaceutical products and improper release of steroids into the immediate environment has found to affect soil and water resulting in imbalance of ecosystem. The steroids reach environment due to inaccurate disposal of expired drugs as well as manufacturing disposal from pharmaceutical industries and are urgently required to be removed from the environment. The present study deals with elimination of 17 beta-estradiol (E2) using Trichoderma citrinoviride AJAC3. The fungal isolate could tolerate E2 and degrade 99.6% of the contaminant at concentration of 200 mg L-1. Trichoderma citrinoviride AJAC3 secreted extracellular ligninolytic enzymes which played significant role in degradation of E2. High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) was used to determine the biodegradation pattern of E2 and confirmed by Gas Chromatography Mass Spectroscopy (GC-MS), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis. Kinetics study revealed that the degradation pathway followed first-order kinetic model. The results affirmed that the isolate was able to biodegrade E2 efficiently. (c) 2019 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 38:e13142, 2019