Isolation and identification of a polyacrylamide-degrading fungus and its degradation characteristics

Polyacrylamide-degrading fungus was selected from the soil in the chemical plant producting polyacrylamide, and it was named PAMF4. It is capable of utilizing polyacrylamide as sole nitrogen source. According to the morphological characteristics and 18S rRNA sequence analysis, the strain was preliminarily identified as Geotrichum candidum. As the indices with PAMF4 growth and polyacrylamide degradation rate, it was studied that effects of the main environmental factors (initial pH, temperature, polyacrylamide concentration and inoculation amount) on PAMF4 growth and degradation capacity. The results indicated that the most appropriate conditions of PAMF4 growth and polyacryl-amide degradation were as fallows: pH was 7.0, temperature was 30 °C, polyacrylamide concentration was 500 mg·L 1 and inoculation quantity (v/v) was 3%, while degradation rate of polyacrylamide in basic culture medium was 32.61 % in 8d.