Edible plant oil (EPO)-consumption activity of the isolate Fusarium keratoplasticum EN01 and other relative Fusarium species.

Edible oil is used in humans' daily lives, and the degradation of edible oil is a key process in sewage water treatment and in compost production from food wastes. In this study, a mixed microbial strain EN00, which showed high edible plant oil (EPO)-consumption activity, was obtained from soil via enrichment cultivation. A fungal strain EN01 was isolated from EN00 and relegated to Fusarium keratoplasticum, based on the nucleotide sequences of the TEF1-α gene. Strain EN01 eliminated more than 90% of hydrophobic compounds from the medium containing 1.0% (w/v) EPO within 10 days at 30 °C. The rate of consumption of EPO by EN01 was comparable with that of EN00, suggesting that EN01 was the main microorganism involved in the EPO-consumption ability of EN00. Strain EN01 efficiently utilized EPO as a sole carbon source. The EPO-consumption rate of EN01 was highest among six tested strains of Fusarium solani species complex (FSSC), while two FSSC strains of F. mori and F. cuneirostrum, whose phylogenetic relationships were relatively distant from EN01, had little EPO-eliminating activity. This data implies that the potent EPO-eliminating activity is not general in FSSC strains but is restricted to selected members of this complex. EN01 showed good growth at 25-30 °C, in media with an initial pH of 4-10, and in the presence of 0-3% (w/v) sodium chloride. Although the safety including pathogenicity must be strictly evaluated, some FSSC strains including EN01 have potentials for use in the degradation and elimination of edible oil.