Biotransformation and Degradation Pathway of Pyrene by Filamentous Soil Fungus Trichoderma sp. F03

Pyrene, a toxic four-benzene-ring that per sists in the ecosystem, is highly resistant to degradation. Thegoaloftheresearch is toscreen, isolate, and identify pyrene-degrading filamentous fungi via the molecular biological identification method. The capabilities of identified isolates in biodegradation and transformation of pyrene were also evaluated. Based on the morpho logical characterization and sequence alignments, re sults of neighbor-joining phylogenetic tree from 18S rRNA of F03 revealed that genetic similarity had achieved 99% of homology percentage and identified as Trichoderma sp. Trichoderma sp. F03 was able to degrade pyrene (78%) when culture conditions were set at 100 mg/L initial pyrene concentration in culture me dium with pH 5 at 27 °C, the use of glucose as a carbon source andpolyethylene glycol sorbitan monooleate asa biosurfactant without agitation. Finally, three metabo lites, benzoic acid, 3-hydroxybenzoic acid, and acetic acid, were detected during the pyrene degradation process by using gas chromatography–mass spectrome try (GCMS).