Characterization of chlordecone-tolerant fungal populations isolated from long-term polluted tropical volcanic soil in the French West Indies

Chloé Merlin (1) , Marion Devers-Lamrani (1) , Olivier Crouzet (2) , Cécile Héraud (1) , Christian Steinberg (1) , Christian Mougin (2) , Fabrice Martin-Laurent (1)

1 Agroécologie [Dijon]
2 PESSAC - Physicochimie et Ecotoxicologie des SolS d'Agrosystèmes Contaminés

The insecticide chlordecone is a contaminant found in most of the banana plantations in the French West Indies. This study aims to search for fungal populations able to grow on it. An Andosol heavily contaminated with chlordecone, perfused for 1 year in a soil–charcoal system, was used to conduct enrichment cultures. A total of 103 fungal strains able to grow on chlordecone-mineral salt medium were isolated, purified, and deposited in the MIAE collection (Microorganismes d'Intérêt Agro-Environnemental, UMR Agroécologie, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Dijon, France). Internal transcribed spacer sequencing revealed that all isolated strains belonged to the Ascomycota phylum and gathered in 11 genera: Metacordyceps, Cordyceps, Pochonia, Acremonium, Fusarium, Paecilomyces, Ophiocordyceps, Purpureocillium, Bionectria, Penicillium, and Aspergillus. Among predominant species, only one isolate, Fusarium oxysporum MIAE01197, was able to grow in a liquid culture medium that contained chlordecone as sole carbon source. Chlordecone increased F. oxysporum MIAE01197 growth rate, attesting for its tolerance to this organochlorine. Moreover, F. oxysporum MIAE01197 exhibited a higher EC50 value than the reference strain F. oxysporum MIAE00047. This further suggests its adaptation to chlordecone tolerance up to 29.2 mg l−1. Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis revealed that 40 % of chlordecone was dissipated in F. oxysporum MIAE01197 suspension culture. No chlordecone metabolite was detected by GC-MS. However, weak amount of 14CO2 evolved from 14C10-chlordecone and 14C10-metabolites were observed. Sorption of 14C10-chlordecone onto fungal biomass followed a linear relationship (r 2 = 0.99) suggesting that it may also account for chlordecone dissipation in F. oxysporum MIAE01197 culture

Mots clés: Chlordecone; Andosol; Ecotoxicology; Biosorption; Biodegradation

Domaines: Milieux et Changements globaux

Chloé Merlin, Marion Devers-Lamrani, Olivier Crouzet, Cécile Héraud, Christian Steinberg, et al.. Characterization of chlordecone-tolerant fungal populations isolated from long-term polluted tropical volcanic soil in the French West Indies. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 2014, 21 (7), pp.4914-4927. ⟨10.1007/s11356-013-1971-8⟩. ⟨hal-01687896⟩