Iron Uptake by Fungi Isolated from Arcelor Mittal -Annaba- in the Northeast of Algeria

ABSTRACT The Metal pollution is one of the major risks in the world nowadays. Iron is an essential metal for growth and proliferation of a vast majority of organisms, but it can be toxic to human health and other living beings in the environment at high concentrations due to its increased industrial activity. Fungi have a remarkable capacity to uptake and detoxify iron metal using different mechanisms such as bioaccumulation. Thus, the aim of this work is to study the ability of iron uptake by the fungal strains isolated from Arcelor Mittal -Annaba- in Algeria. Three strains were screened at high concentration of iron (1 g/l) and their capacity to uptake iron has been studied on Czapek Yeast Agar medium. The amounts of uptaken iron ions were estimated in the same liquid medium using Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS). The results of the iron uptake by these screened strains showed that Cladosporium cladosporioides uptakes the highest concentration of iron (347.7 ppm), Aspergillus niger was able to accumulate up to 170 ppm of this metal while, the lowest uptake of this metal was shown by Penicillium citrinum with 106.43 ppm. It was found that the spore germination of three fungal strains was low when the medium is supplemented with high concentrations of iron. This indicated the potential of these fungal strains as biological agents for removal of iron from the industrial effluents containing high concentrations of it.

摘要 金属污染是当今全球面临的主要环境风险之一。铁是绝大多数生物体生长与增殖所必需的金属元素，但随着工业活动加剧，当环境中铁浓度过高时，会对人体健康及其他生物产生毒性。真菌具备通过生物富集等多种机制摄取并降解铁元素毒性的卓越能力。因此本研究旨在探究从阿尔及利亚安纳巴安赛乐米塔尔（Arcelor Mittal）厂区分离得到的真菌菌株对铁的摄取能力。本研究以1g/L的高浓度铁对3株菌株进行筛选，并在察氏酵母琼脂（Czapek Yeast Agar）培养基上探究其摄铁能力；采用原子吸收光谱法（Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy, AAS）在相同的液体培养基中对菌株摄取的铁离子含量进行定量检测。经筛选的3株菌株的摄铁结果显示：枝孢霉（Cladosporium cladosporioides）的铁摄取量最高，达347.7ppm；黑曲霉（Aspergillus niger）可富集高达170ppm的铁元素；而桔青霉（Penicillium citrinum）的铁摄取量最低，仅为106.43ppm。研究发现，当培养基中添加高浓度铁时，3株真菌菌株的孢子萌发率均较低。这表明上述真菌菌株具备作为生物修复剂，从高浓度含铁工业废水中去除铁元素的应用潜力。