Degradation of alkylphenols by white rot fungus Irpex lacteus and its manganese peroxidase.

Alkylphenols are common endocrine disrupters that are produced from the degradation of widely used surfactants. Since they cause various harmful effects on aquatic life and in humans, they should be removed from the environments being contaminated. White rot fungus Irpex lacteus can completely degrade 100 mg/L of octylphenol, nonylphenol, and phenylphenol during 1 day of incubation in the complex YMG medium, which was the highest degrading capability among nine strains of white rot fungi tested. In the N-limited Kirk's basal salts medium, I. lacteus could degrade almost 100 % of 100 mg/L octylphenol and nonylphenol in 1 h, and exhibited a high activity of manganese peroxidase (MnP; 1,790 U/L). MnP of I. lacteus was purified by ion exchange chromatography, and this degraded 99 % of 50 mg/L octylphenol and removed 80 % of estrogenic activity in 2 hours. In addition, the purified MnP (10 U/mL) degraded over 90 % of 50 mg/L nonylphenol in 1 h.