TITLE:
Morphological Responses and the Evaluation for Remediation of Aspergillus under Cadmium and Lead Stress
AUTHORS:
Lihong Zhang, Zidi Yuan, Min Yang, Xueyong Zhou
KEYWORDS:
Aspergillus, Cadmium Removal, Lead Removal, Morphological Response, Bioremediation
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.12 No.5,
May
30,
2025
ABSTRACT: Fungi have been a source of great concern because they are perfect candidates for heavy metal bioremediation. The fungus with tolerance to the heavy metal was screened from the mining soil samples. The fungus was characterized as Aspergillus sp. Y9 based on the morphological and ITS sequencing analysis. Y9 exhibited high levels of resistance to cadmium and lead. Y9 was investigated for its miro-morphology and application in heavy removal with different concentration Cd(II) (0, 50,100 and 200 mg/L), and with different concentration Pb(II) (0, 200, 500 and 1000 mg/L), respectively. Micro-morphological studies showed the reproduction of the fungus was affected under the higher concentrations of cadmium and lead, but the survival strategies of Y9 were different with cadmium and lead. Under higher concentrations of cadmium, the mycelium of Y9 became shorter, and the top of the hyphae swelled to prevent development. However, under higher concentration lead stress, the morphological changes of mycelium are not obvious, but the number of fruiting bodies decreases. The removal potential of Y9 was quantified by atomic absorption spectrometry. The highest Cd(II) biosorption capacity was 1.91 ± 0.02 mg/g in 200 mg/L initial concentration Cd(II), while that of Pb(II) was 5.87 ± 1.02 mg/g in 500 mg/L initial concentration Pb(II). The highest Cd(II) sorption removed 53.71% ± 0.31% in 50 mg/L initial concentration Cd(II), while that of Pb(II) is 66.91% ± 1.88% in 100 mg/L initial concentration Pb(II). Y9 showed the great potential as bioremediators for highly heavy metal-contaminated environments. Our present results provide a better understanding of the heavy metal resistance of Aspergillus.