Abstract:Fungal laccase can efficiently oxidize polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), suggesting the potential of laccase-producing fungi for application to remediation of PAHs-contaminated soil. Based on its feature of being capable of oxidizing guaiacol into something red, a strain of laccase-producing fungus, F-1, was isolated from soil. According the BLAST alignment of near full-length 18S rRNA gene sequence, this strain is closely related to Myrothecium verrucaria. Both single factor and Plackett-Burman experiments were performed to assess F-1’s laccase-producing capacity. The laccase activity was found to be greatly increased by 2 orders of magnitude in specific culture medium, suggesting the significant effect of environment factors on laccase activity of F-1. Soil microcosms were set up with or without inoculation of F-1, and the PAHs contents were determined after 30-days of incubation. Results show that PhA, FluA, Pyr, BaA, Chr, BbF, BkF, BaP, DbA, BghiP and In[1,2,3-cd]P were degraded to varying extent in fungus inoculated microcosms, confirming the remedial potential of F-1 in PAHs-contaminated soil.