Study on characteristics and ability of degradation effect of 3-phenoxybenzoic acid by filamentous fungi

Six strains saved in laboratory including Penicillium chrysogenum QH, Aspergillus oryzae MAY, Mucor mucedo MHC, Rhizopus nigricans GH, Saccharomyces cerevisiae Y1 and Candida utilis Y2 were clutured in PD medium of 48h with oscillation. 3-phenoxybenzoic acid (100mg/L) were degraded by four mold stains 77.12%, 77.19%, 55.46%, 72.38% respectively. However, stains Y1 and Y2 had no degradation to 3-PBA. The six strains had no growth and no degradation to 3-PBA after oscillating clutured 48h in MM medium. Twelve strains of mold and 4 strains of yeasts isolated from environment, 14 strains of known mold were tested for 3-PBA degradation, 26 strains of mold had different degrees of degradation to 3-PBA and 4 strains of yeasts have no degradation in PD medium. We could speculate that filamentous fungi had the ability to degrade 3-PBA in common. Result indicated that different mold might have different 3-PBA degradation pathways and result in different degradation products showed in HPLC chromatograms. In addition, 3-PBA had inhibitory effect on the growth of filamentous fungi tested in the study.