Ammonium Magnesium Phosphate Struvite in the Fruiting Body of the Wood-Rotting Fungus Сhondrostereum purpureum : Localization, Morphology and Formation

Abstract

The present study focuses on phosphate mineral formation under the influence of wood-rotting fungi. Crystals of the ammonium magnesium phosphate struvite were discovered for the first time within the fruiting body of the wood-rotting fungus Chondrostereum purpureum growing on a birch trunk (Russko-Vysotsky Forest Park, Leningrad Region, Russia). Model experiments with Chondrostereum purpureum, Auricularia mesenterica, Auricularia delicata, Auricularia cornea, Inonotus hispidus, Inonotus obliquus, and Serpula himantioides demonstrated the possibility of struvite formation under the action of wood-rotting fungi, provided the pH of the culture medium is near neutral. The morphology of both natural and biomimetic crystals was investigated using a complex of analytical methods, including powder X-ray diffraction, optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and EDX spectroscopy. The total quantitative content of extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) in the fungal culture fluid was measured by a gravimetric method. The contribution of EPS, secreted by wood-rotting fungi, in phosphate biomineralization was shown. Wood-rotting fungi inducing struvite precipitation could be used in biotechnological applications for environmental remediation.

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