Treatment of Colored Effluents with Lignin-Degrading Enzymes: An Emerging Role of Marine-Derived Fungi

Some of the industries that discharge highly colored effluents are paper and pulp mills, textiles and dye-making industries, alcohol distilleries, and leather industries. Terrestrial white-rot basidiomycetous fungi and their lignin-degrading enzymes laccase, manganese-peroxidase and lignin peroxidases are useful in the treatment of colored industrial effluents and other xenobiotics. Free mycelia, mycelial pellets, immobilized fungi or their lignin-degrading enzymes from terrestrial fungi have been reported in treatment of several effluents. Marine obligate or facultative (marine-derived) fungi may have unique properties but have not been explored sufficiently for this purpose. This article presents a critical review of bioremediation potential of such fungi and their lignin-degrading enzymes in comparison with the state-of-the-art in terrestrial white-rot fungi.