Isolation and characterization of Arsenic tolerant fungal strains from contaminated sites around urban environment of Kolkata

Abstract

Today arsenic is causing an alarming global problem due to its toxicity and day by day this problem will amplify if necessary actions are not taken. In this paper we have isolated two arsenic resistant fungal strains (Aspergillus flavus and A. niger) from some polluted sites of Kolkata. These two strains are capable of removing 50%-76 % of arsenic from different arsenic enriched medium, simultaneously also tolerant to different other heavy metals (Cd, Pb, Hg, Zn and Cr). In near future these tolerant fungal species could be used in remediation of Arsenic and other metal pollution to some extent.