Quantifying Fungal Growth In Nutrient Limited Systems For Bioremediation Purpose
Date
2022-05
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
A method to quantify fungal biomass production on solid substrates is needed
to exploit the potential of enzymes produced by white rot fungi for biotechnological
purposes. Ergosterol, a sterol found in the fungal membrane, was used as a method to
measure growth of the fungi within bioreactors. Three different growth substrates
were evaluated as possible supports for fungal growth. A biomass weight versus
ergosterol concentration curve was developed for the fungi growing in liquid media in
order to quantify fungal growth on solid substrates. Differences in ergosterol
concentrations of the fungi and biomass growth across the various substrates and
across fungal viability were determined. The following logarithmic regression
equations were produced for Pleurotus ostreatus and Phanerochaete chrysosporium:
y=70.286ln(x)+444.34 (R2=0.7387) and y=115.96ln(x)+311.68 (R2=0.9427),
respectively. The highest concentration of ergosterol on the solid substrates within
bioreactors was observed on Day 7 on the spent mushroom compost substrate at
48.08ug/g. The wood chip and spent mushroom compost substrates were statistically
different (p<0.05) from one another on 5 out of the 7 sample days, while the RPF
substrate was not significantly different from either of the two substrates. Lastly,
significant differences (p<0.05) were observed between all living and nonliving
sample pairs with a few exceptions. Working with the fungi in the bioreactors
containing these complex, solid substrates proved to be challenging. Sampling
methods and growth conditions for the fungi need to be modified to improve on the development of a more accurate regression between fungal biomass and ergosterol
concentration.
Description
Keywords
Ergosterol, Fungi, Fungal biomass