Plant-promoted pyrene degradation in soil
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Updated: Oct 17, 2026

Isolation and Screening from Soil Biodiversity for Fungi Involved in the Degradation of Recalcitrant Materials
Published on: May 16, 2022
1Department of Soil, Crop and Atmospheric Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
Abstract:
A study was conducted to investigate the capability of nine plant species to promote the degradation of pyrene in soil. The test method allowed for analysis of the entire sample of soil. More pyrene was degraded in the presence of roots of all nine species than in unplanted soil. Within approximately 8 weeks, as much as 74% of the pyrene disappeared from vegetated soil compared to 40% or less from unplanted soil. The data suggest that some of the test species may be especially useful for phytoremediation of soils contaminated with PAHs.
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