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Mycoremediation
 
 
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Mycoremediation is a form of bioremediation
Bioremediation

Bioremediation can be defined as any process that uses microorganisms, fungi, phytoremediation or their enzymes to return the natural environment altered by contaminants to its original condition....
, the process of using mushroom
Mushroom

A mushroom is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or on its food source. The standard for the name "mushroom" is the cultivated white button mushroom, Agaricus bisporus, hence the word mushroom is most often applied to those fungi that have a stem , a cap , and gills on the unde...
s to return an environment
Ecosystem

An ecosystem is a natural unit consisting of all plants, animals and micro-organisms in an area functioning together with all of the non-living physical factors of the environment....
 (usually soil) contaminated by pollutant
Pollutant

A pollutant is a waste material that pollutes air, water or soil.Three factors determine the severity of a pollutant: its chemical nature, the concentration and the persistence....
s to a less contaminated state. The term mycoremediation was coined by Paul Stamets
Paul Stamets

Paul Stamets is an American mycology, author, and advocate of bioremediation....
 and refers specifically to the use of fungal mycelia
Mycelium

Mycelium is the Vegetative reproduction part of a fungus, consisting of a mass of branching, thread-like hyphae. The mass of hyphae is sometimes called shiro, especially within the Fairy rings fungi....
 in bioremediation.

One of the primary roles of fungi in the ecosystem
Ecosystem

An ecosystem is a natural unit consisting of all plants, animals and micro-organisms in an area functioning together with all of the non-living physical factors of the environment....
 is decomposition
Decomposition

Decomposition refers to the process by which tissues of dead organisms break down into simpler forms of matter. Such a breakdown of dead organisms is essential for new growth and development of living organisms because it recycles the finite chemical constituents and frees up the limited physical space in the biome....
, which is performed by the mycelium. The mycelium secretes extracellular enzyme
Enzyme

Enzymes are biomolecules that catalysis chemical reactions. Almost all enzymes are proteins. In enzymatic reactions, the molecules at the beginning of the process are called Substrate , and the enzyme converts them into different molecules, the products....
s and acid
Acid

An acid is traditionally considered any chemical compound that, when dissolved in water, gives a solution with a hydrogen ion Activity greater than in pure water, i.e....
s that break down lignin
Lignin

Lignin or lignen is a complex chemical compound most commonly derived from wood, and an integral part of the secondary cell walls of plants and some algae....
 and cellulose
Cellulose

File:Cellulose Sessel.svgCellulose is an organic compound with the chemical formula , a polysaccharide consisting of a linear chain of several hundred to over ten thousand ? linked D-glucose units....
, the two main building blocks of plant fiber.






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Mycoremediation is a form of bioremediation
Bioremediation

Bioremediation can be defined as any process that uses microorganisms, fungi, phytoremediation or their enzymes to return the natural environment altered by contaminants to its original condition....
, the process of using mushroom
Mushroom

A mushroom is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or on its food source. The standard for the name "mushroom" is the cultivated white button mushroom, Agaricus bisporus, hence the word mushroom is most often applied to those fungi that have a stem , a cap , and gills on the unde...
s to return an environment
Ecosystem

An ecosystem is a natural unit consisting of all plants, animals and micro-organisms in an area functioning together with all of the non-living physical factors of the environment....
 (usually soil) contaminated by pollutant
Pollutant

A pollutant is a waste material that pollutes air, water or soil.Three factors determine the severity of a pollutant: its chemical nature, the concentration and the persistence....
s to a less contaminated state. The term mycoremediation was coined by Paul Stamets
Paul Stamets

Paul Stamets is an American mycology, author, and advocate of bioremediation....
 and refers specifically to the use of fungal mycelia
Mycelium

Mycelium is the Vegetative reproduction part of a fungus, consisting of a mass of branching, thread-like hyphae. The mass of hyphae is sometimes called shiro, especially within the Fairy rings fungi....
 in bioremediation.

One of the primary roles of fungi in the ecosystem
Ecosystem

An ecosystem is a natural unit consisting of all plants, animals and micro-organisms in an area functioning together with all of the non-living physical factors of the environment....
 is decomposition
Decomposition

Decomposition refers to the process by which tissues of dead organisms break down into simpler forms of matter. Such a breakdown of dead organisms is essential for new growth and development of living organisms because it recycles the finite chemical constituents and frees up the limited physical space in the biome....
, which is performed by the mycelium. The mycelium secretes extracellular enzyme
Enzyme

Enzymes are biomolecules that catalysis chemical reactions. Almost all enzymes are proteins. In enzymatic reactions, the molecules at the beginning of the process are called Substrate , and the enzyme converts them into different molecules, the products....
s and acid
Acid

An acid is traditionally considered any chemical compound that, when dissolved in water, gives a solution with a hydrogen ion Activity greater than in pure water, i.e....
s that break down lignin
Lignin

Lignin or lignen is a complex chemical compound most commonly derived from wood, and an integral part of the secondary cell walls of plants and some algae....
 and cellulose
Cellulose

File:Cellulose Sessel.svgCellulose is an organic compound with the chemical formula , a polysaccharide consisting of a linear chain of several hundred to over ten thousand ? linked D-glucose units....
, the two main building blocks of plant fiber. These are organic compounds composed of long chains of carbon
Carbon

Carbon is a chemical element with chemical symbol C and atomic number 6. As a member of group 14 on the periodic table, it is nonmetallic and tetravalence?making four electrons available to form covalent bond chemical bonds....
 and hydrogen
Hydrogen

Hydrogen is the chemical element with atomic number 1. It is represented by the chemical symbol H. At standard temperature and pressure, hydrogen is a colorless, odorless, nonmetallic, tasteless, highly combustion and explosive Diatomic molecule gas with the molecular formula H2....
, structurally similar to many organic pollutants. The key to mycoremediation is determining the right fungal species to target a specific pollutant. Certain strains have been reported to successfully degrade the nerve gases VX
VX (nerve agent)

VX is an extremely toxic substance whose only application is in chemical warfare as a nerve agent. As a chemical weapon, it is classified as a weapon of mass destruction by the United Nations in UN Resolution 687....
 and sarin
Sarin

Sarin, also known by its NATO designation of GB, is an extremely toxic substance whose sole application is as a nerve agent. As a chemical weapons, it is classified as a weapon of mass destruction by the United Nations in UN Resolution 687....
.

In an experiment conducted in conjunction with Thomas
Thomas

Thomas may refer to:In people:* Thomas * Thomas , a masculine given name* Thomas the ApostleIn places:* Thomas, Oklahoma* Thomas, West Virginia...
, a major contributor in the bioremediation industry, a plot of soil contaminated with diesel
Diesel

Diesel or diesel fuel in general is any fuel used in diesel engines. The most common is a specific fractional distillation of petroleum fuel oil, but alternatives that are not derived from petroleum, such as biodiesel, biomass to liquid or gas to liquid diesel, are increasingly being developed and adopted....
 oil was inoculated with mycelia of oyster mushroom
Oyster mushroom

The Oyster mushroom, or Pleurotus ostreatus, is a common edible mushroom. Long fungiculture in Asia, it is now cultivated around the world for food....
s; traditional bioremediation techniques (bacteria) were used on control plots. After four weeks, more than 95% of many of the PAH (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are chemical compounds that consist of fused aromatic simple aromatic ring and do not contain heteroatoms or carry substituents....
s) had been reduced to non-toxic components in the mycelial-inoculated plots. It appears that the natural microbial community participates with the fungi to break down contaminants, eventually into carbon dioxide and water. Wood-degrading fungi are particularly effective in breaking down aromatic pollutants (toxic components of petroleum
Petroleum

Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid found in rock formations in the Earth consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights, plus other organic compounds....
), as well as chlorinated compounds (certain persistent pesticides; Battelle, 2000).

The concept of mycoremediation was explored in the 1984 film Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

is a 1984 in film Cinema of Japan anime film, written and film director by Hayao Miyazaki, based on his manga Nausica? of the Valley of the Wind . The movie has environmentalism undertones and was presented by the World Wide Fund for Nature when it was released in 1984....
, where vast tracts of fungal forest rehabilitate the planet after catastrophic human polluting and apocalypse.

Mycofiltration
Mycofiltration

'Mycofiltration' is the process of using mushroom mycelium mats as biological filters. The term was coined by mycology Paul Stamets.Stamets originally came up with the technique to control E....
 is a similar or same process, using fungal mycelia to filter toxic waste and microorganism
Microorganism

A microorganism or microbe is an organism that is microscopic . The study of microorganisms is called microbiology, a subject that began with Anton van Leeuwenhoek's discovery of microorganisms in 1675, using a microscope of his own design....
s from water in soil.

See also

  • Bioremediation
    Bioremediation

    Bioremediation can be defined as any process that uses microorganisms, fungi, phytoremediation or their enzymes to return the natural environment altered by contaminants to its original condition....
  • Restoration ecology
    Restoration ecology

    Restoration ecology is the study of renewing a degraded, damaged, or destroyed ecosystem through active human intervention. Restoration ecology specifically refers to the scientific study that has evolved as recently as the 1980s....


External links

  • Searchable website containing patents and applications related to mycoremediation]