Mycoremediation of Soils Polluted with Trichloroethylene: First Evidence of _Pleurotus_ Genus Effectiveness  
[PERSON]  
1 Department of Agricultural Chemistry and Food Sciences, Autonomous University of Madrid,  
28049 Madrid, Spain; begonna.mayans@uames (B.M. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (R.C.-A. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (R.A.-H.); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (E.E.) [PERSON]  
1 Department of Agricultural Chemistry and Food Sciences, Autonomous University of Madrid,  
28049 Madrid, Spain; begonna.mayans@uames (B.M. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (R.C.-A. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (R.A.-H.); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (E.E.) [PERSON]  
of soil microorganisms to obtain nitrogen, thereby affecting the soil nitrogen cycle. It was concluded that concentrations of 20 mg kg\({}^{-1}\) TCE inhibited the energy metabolism of the microbiota, as well as the metabolism of other substances such as xenobiotics in the soil [6]. [PERSON] et al. [7] reported that TCE negatively affected some soil-enzyme activities, for example with regard to dehydrogenase, \(\beta\)-glucosidase, phosphatase, urease, and o-diphenyl oxidase. Thus, the safe removal of TCE from soils represents a challenge that should be approached from various perspectives. Abiotic approaches were first employed, followed by a wide range of types of biotic remediation using microorganisms as well as plants. Among the abiotic methods, [PERSON]'s reagent (H\({}_{2}\)O\({}_{2}\) + Fe\({}^{2+}\)), O\({}_{3}\)/UV, O\({}_{3}\)/H\({}_{2}\)O\({}_{2}\), and photocatalysis with the mediation of the hydroxyl radical resulted in the oxidation of TCE. These procedures were successfully used to remediate contaminated water and soil [8; 9; 10]. Furthermore, some researchers have induced the production of the hydroxyl radical using the extracellular enzymes of ligninolytic fungi such as _Pleurotus eryngii_[11] or _Tranetes versicolor_ to degrade TCE with the concomitant dechlorination of the compound [12]. Most TCE biodegradation studies have been aimed at the reductive dechlorination by anaerobic bacteria, including _Dehalospirillium multivorans_[13], _Dehalobacter restrictus_[14], and _Dehalococcus ethenogenes_[15]. This process most often causes the accumulation of less chlorinated but more toxic compounds in the environment such as cis-1,2-dichloroethylene and some well-known carcinogenic intermediates such as vinyl chloride. The aerobic degradation of TCE by bacteria has been investigated resulting in the formation of a range of intermediates such as chloral, formate, glyoxylate, dichloracetate, and CO [16]. Co-metabolic biodegradation of TCE, reported through degradation by bacteria as a collateral effect (such as in the case of methanotrophic bacteria) has also been reported [17]. Compared with most bacterial degradative enzymes, the intra- and extracellular enzymatic systems of white rot fungi (WRF) enable them to degrade several classes of organic pollutants such as polychlorinated biphenyls [18], polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) [19; 20], endocrine disruptors such as bisphenol A, 17 \(\beta\)-estradiol, or tridosan (among others) [21] and a wide variety of pharmaceutical compounds [22; 23; 24; 25]. The ability of some ligninolytic fungi to degrade TCE in a liquid medium yielding less toxic intermediates than bacteria has been investigated in addition to their ability to mineralize it, as shown by research using _T. versicolor_[26], _Planerochaete chrysosporium_[27], _Ganoderma lucidum_, and _Irpex lactose_[28]. Thus, mycoaugmentation using WRF constitutes an interesting strategy for the treatment of contaminated soils. Their bioremediation potential is based on their growth habit of producing hyphal extensions and forming mycelial cords which are the main pathways for water and nutrient translocation [29]. These mycelial cords provide them with the advantage of being able to penetrate and grow across spatially heterogeneous soil. In addition, the secretion of oxidative ligninolytic enzymes, characterized by their low substrate specificity, enables them to degrade a wide range of organic pollutants.