Screening of ligninolytic fungi for bioremediation of dyes

Water pollution is a growing concern worldwide. One of the main causes of water pollution includes the textile industry which produces a large amount of wastewater every day. This wastewater is known to contain dyes that are recalcitrant and hard to treat. In order to solve this problem, bioremediation using ligninolytic fungi is commonly used for the ligninolytic enzymes which are able to break down the dyes. In this study, samples were collected from decaying woods and soils in the vicinity of UiTM Puncak Alam forests. A total of 20 fungal isolates were tested for ligninolytic enzyme production. Out of the 20 isolates, 13 were found to produce lignin peroxidase and manganese peroxidase, but only one produced laccase. The isolate that produced all three enzymes was used for DNA isolation and identified using amplification of the ITS region by PCR. The isolate was identified as Trichoderma asperellum, a soft rot fungal species which is renowned for its role in bioremediation as a biosorbent.