Organophosphonate utilization by the wild‐type strain of cladosporium resinae

Abstract

We studied the biodegradation of compounds containing phosphorus‐to‐carbon bond by using wild‐type strain of Cladosporium resinae. The substrate specificity of the strain was studied and we found that it is able to utilize a range of structurally diverse organophosphonates as a sole source of phosphorus. This ability is inducible as indicated by the presence of a lag phase of the growth. A popular herbicide glyphosate is also degraded by the fungi. This indicates that Cladosporium resinae may play an important role in biodegradation of this herbicide. The strain which we used, however, did not metabolise any phosphonates when they served as the sole carbon or nitrogen sources.

Keywords:

• carbon‐to‐phosphorus bond
• biodegradation
• glyphosate
• ciliatine

Notes

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