Abstract

  The Osamu Utsumi mine was the first uranium mine in Brazil and ceased activities in 1995. Since then, it has encountered problems in rehabilitating the mine site due to high levels of contamination. Thus, the present investigation aimed to isolate and identify fungi from the Osamu Utsumi mine that may be suitable candidates for the bioremediation process and thus get to know the local mycobiota. The pH of the water samples was 3.3. The mean water activity (a_w) of soil samples was 0.98. From this extreme environment, a total of 57 fungal species were isolated and identified, with genus Penicillium being the most abundant. The identification by classical techniques demonstrated that these fungi, despite being of the same species, in many cases, present different morphology. The accurate knowledge of the mycobiota capable of growing and survive on this type of environment, which fungi are dominant, provides essential data to help in futures studies. Effluents from the contaminated uranium mine can pose severe risks to the health of the population, as they can contaminate rivers and lakes close to the mine area, so it is necessary to properly treat the water from the acid mine drainage. In the future, the fungi isolated can potentially be used in the bioremediation process, providing an economical and eco-friendly alternative to conventional treatment.

Keywords: Fungi; Biodiversity; Uranium mine; Penicillium; Waste

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Citation

Citation: Ednei Coelho., et al. “Fungi that Survived in a Contaminated Uranium Mine from Brazil". Acta Scientific Microbiology 3.11 (2020): 03-17.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2020 Ednei Coelho., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.