Role of Fungi in Bioremediation of Soil Contaminated with Persistent Organic Compounds

Human activity due to rapid industrialization along with growing demand over agricultural production has resulted in contamination of soils by various organic and inorganic compounds which contain toxic metals and xenobiotic components. Their impact on the environment gets compounded with their co-occurrence and brings about various ecotoxicological challenges to the fore. Fungi alone or in combination with bacteria have proven to be an effective measure against the accumulation of these materials in the environment. Their capability to enhance the bacterial remediation leading up to the mineralization of these xenobiotic compounds has been a matter of great attention among researchers. The extracted fungal enzymes have also been a source of remediation against these compounds. Fungi have thus advanced as an economically feasible, environmentally safe, and easy tool in the remediation of contaminated soil. This chapter brings forward the role of fungi as an effective toolbox to bioremediate soils polluted with persistent organic contaminants.