Aspergillus luchuensis, an Endophyte Fungus from the Metal Hyperaccumulator Plant Prosopis laevigata, Promotes its Growth and Increases Metal Translocation
- Author: mycolabadmin
- 2023-03-16
- View Source
Summary
This research discovered a beneficial fungus living inside the roots of a metal-accumulating tree that can help clean up copper-polluted soils. The fungus helps the tree grow better and move more copper from its roots to its leaves, making the cleanup process more effective. This natural partnership between fungus and tree offers an environmentally friendly way to deal with metal pollution.
Impacts on everyday life:
• Provides a sustainable solution for cleaning up metal-contaminated sites
• Offers a cost-effective alternative to chemical cleanup methods
• Helps restore polluted land for safe use
• Demonstrates nature-based solutions for environmental problems
• Could improve success rates of environmental restoration projects
Background
Heavy metal pollution is a worldwide environmental and human health problem that is difficult to eliminate since metals accumulate in the environment and organisms and are not biodegradable. While chemical and physical remediation techniques exist, they are costly and produce byproducts. Bioremediation using plants and microorganisms offers a more sustainable approach. Prosopis laevigata is a hyperaccumulator legume tree that can bioaccumulate metals like Pb, Cu and Zn.
Objective
To isolate and characterize endophytic fungi from the roots of P. laevigata growing on mine tailings, evaluate their metal tolerance, and assess their potential for enhancing phytoremediation through plant growth promotion and metal translocation.
Results
A novel strain of Aspergillus luchuensis (C7) was isolated that showed high tolerance to Cu, Zn and Pb. When grown in uncontaminated control soil with the fungus, P. laevigata plants showed significantly increased growth parameters including biomass, height and leaf number compared to uninoculated controls. The fungus also enhanced metal translocation from roots to leaves, particularly for copper. The fungal strain demonstrated both metallophilic characteristics and plant growth-promoting abilities.
Conclusion
The newly identified A. luchuensis strain C7 shows promise as an effective bioremediation tool due to its endophytic nature, plant growth-promotion activity, high metal tolerance, and ability to increase copper translocation in P. laevigata. This fungal-plant partnership represents a novel and sustainable approach for remediating copper-polluted soils.
- Published in:Plants (Basel),
- Study Type:Experimental Research,
- Source: 10.3390/plants12061338