Microcystin-LR is one of the most prevalent and toxic secondary metabolites produced by cyanobacteria worldwide, causing global concerns because of its hazardousness to ecosystems and human health. Green Liver Systems® have been developed to purify contaminated water, however, system capacities need to be extended to allow season- and location independent applications. Therefore, mycoremediation using temperature resistant Mucor hiemalis in pellet morphology was considered. In submerged liquid cultures, fungal morphology is strain specific and strongly depends on the cultivation environment. One main focus of this work was the investigation of diverse factors influencing pelletization. Moreover, we translated the pellet product into an immediate application and studied its biosorption ability towards microcystin-LR. Our results showed that, pH was a key factor stimulating pellet formation of M. hiemalis and that inoculum concentration played an essential role as well. Final pellet size was limited by the available space in the flask. Microcystin-LR was extracted from exposed pellets and quantified via LC-MS/MS measurements. Our results report for the first time optimized pelletization of M. hiemalis and cyanotoxin uptake by these fungal pellets in liquid cultures.
Key words: Mucor hiemalis, pelletization, mycoremediation, microcystin-LR, uptake
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