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Appl. Environ. Microbiol. doi:10.1128/AEM.01083-07
Copyright (c) 2007, American Society for Microbiology and/or the Listed Authors/Institutions. All Rights Reserved.

Fungal communities associated with the degradation of polyester polyurethane in soil

Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Manchester, 1.800 Stopford Building, Oxford Road, Manchester, UK, M13 9PT, Arch UK Biocides Ltd, Blackley, Manchester, M9 8ZS UK

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: p.handley{at}manchester.ac.uk.

	Abstract

Soil fungal communities involved in the biodegradation of polyester polyurethane (PU) were investigated. PU coupons were buried in two sandy loam soils with different levels of organic carbon; one was acidic (pH 5.5) the other was more neutral (pH 6.7). After 5 months burial, the fungal communities on the surface of the PU were compared with the native soil communities using culture-based and molecular techniques. Putative PU degrading fungi were common in both soils, as <45% of the fungal colonies cleared the colloidal PU dispersion Impranil on solid medium. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) showed that fungal communities on the PU were less diverse than in the soil, and only a few species in the PU communities were detectable in the soil, indicating that only a small subset of the soil fungal communities colonised the PU. Soil type influenced the composition of the PU fungal communities. Geomyces pannorum and a Phoma sp. were the dominant species recovered by culturing from the PU buried in the acidic and neutral soils respectively. Both fungi degraded Impranil and represented >80% of cultivable colonies from each plastic. However, PU was highly susceptible to degradation in both soils, losing up to 95% of its tensile strength. Therefore, different fungi are associated with PU degradation in different soils but the physical process is independent of soil type.