A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Biochemical and Petrochemical Mechanisms of Fungal-Assisted Crude Oil Bioremediation

Abstract

The problem of petroleum hydrocarbon pollution has remained a menace to soil and aquatic ecosystems and there has to be sustainable and efficient remedial measures. Bioremediation Using fungi has become a promising technique because of the metabolic flexibility of fungi and their capacity to break down complex petrochemical compounds. This paper describes a systematic review and meta analysis of the treatment processes that take place in the process of fungal-assisted crude oil bio-remediation (27 total articles).Out of them 21 articles have quantitative information that can be used in a meta analysis. This analysis involved soil and aquatic systems and compared enzymatic reactions, fungal systems and hydrocarbon elimination efficiencies. Ligninolytic enzymes (laccase, manganese peroxidase, and lignin peroxidase) were found to be the most common degradation processes, mentioned in more than 65% of the studies covered. The meta-analysis of random-effects showed that the pooled mean hydrocarbon removal efficiency was 64.3% (95% CI: 57.171.5%), and that ligninolytic fungal systems had higher performance than the mycorrhizal-only systems. All in all, the results indicate the usefulness and versatility of fungal-based bioremediation to crude oil-polluted soil. Fungal systems integration with phytomanagement and soil amendments provides a scalable and environmentally friendly option on the hydrocarbon cleanup. It is a synthesis that offers mechanistic understanding as well as quantitative data to advocate the development of fungal based remediation strategies in different environmental contexts.