Lead accumulation activity of fungi isolated from Batang Toru, South Tapanuli, North Sumatra

Abstract

Lead is non-essential heavy metal, resistant to corrosion and toxic to living organisms. The metal is widely used in industrial processes such as in smelting, paintings, electronics, automotives, etc. It is the major heavy metal contaminating environment and usually accumulates in waste of mining activity. Batang Toru is a site of gold mining in North Sumatra in a district of South Tapanuli. The research was aimed to obtain the potential fungal isolates from the district, and to measure their ability to accumulate lead in their mycelia. Fungi were isolated from soil at Batang Toru area and then were screened for their tolerance of lead in minimalagar medium supplemented with lead. The lead uptake was assayed by growing the isolates in minimal broth medium containinga different concentration of lead. A total of fifteen fungal isolates were obtained from potato dextrose agar medium. Three isolates (XF02, XF09, and XF21) exhibited the best growth response in lead supplemented media. The ability of the isolates to accumulate lead in the mycelia varied from 10,843 to 92,325 mg/g. The highest accumulation of lead was shown by XF02 isolate with 92,325 mg/g of mycelia. Then this result indicates that the fungi obtained in the study are potential candidates for metal remediation application in the future.