Assessing the effectiveness of Byssochlamys nivea and Scopulariopsis brumptii in pentachlorophenol removal and biological control of two Phytophthora species Luciano BOSSO a, *, Rosalia SCELZA a , Rosaria VARLESE a , Giuseppe MECA b , Antonino TESTA a , Maria A. RAO a , Gennaro CRISTINZIO a a Department of Agriculture, University of Naples Federico II, via Universit a n. 100, 80055 Portici (Naples), Italy b Laboratory of Food Chemistry and Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Valencia, Av. Vicent Andr es Estell es s/n, 46100 Burjassot, Spain article info Article history: Received 8 May 2015 Received in revised form 5 January 2016 Accepted 6 January 2016 Corresponding Editor: Nabla Kennedy Keywords: Bioremediation Electrolyte Leakage Assay Fungi Oomycetes Patulin Plant pathogens abstract Bioremediation and biological-control by fungi have made tremendous strides in numer- ous biotechnology applications. The aim of this study was to test Byssochlamys nivea and Scopulariopsis brumptii in sensitivity and degradation to pentachlorophenol (PCP) and in bi- ological-control of Phytophthora cinnamomi and Phytophthora cambivora. B. nivea and S. brumptii were tested in PCP sensitivity and degradation in microbiological media while the experiments of biological-control were carried out in microbiological media and soil. The fungal strains showed low PCP sensitivity at 12.5 and 25 mg PCP L 1 although the hy- phal size, fungal mat, patulin, and spore production decreased with increasing PCP concen- trations. B. nivea and S. brumptii depleted completely 12.5 and 25 mg PCP L 1 in liquid culture after 28 d of incubation at 28  C. Electrolyte leakage assays showed that both fungi have low sensitivity to 25 mg PCP L 1 and produced no toxic compounds for the plant. B. nivea and S. brumptii were able to inhibit the growth of the two plant pathogens in labora- tory studies and reduce the mortality of chestnut plants caused by two Phytophthorae in greenhouse experiments. The two fungal strains did not produce volatile organic com- pounds able to reduce the growth of two plant pathogens tested. ª 2016 The British Mycological Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Introduction Bioremediation is defined as the process whereby living or- ganisms are able to transform environmental contaminants into less toxic forms. It uses naturally occurring bacteria, fungi or plants to degrade or detoxify substances hazardous to human health and/or the environment (Crawford & Crawford 1997; Vidali 2001; Olguin 2003; Petroselli et al. 2014). Biological control (biocontrol) refers to the purposeful uti- lization of introduced or resident living organisms to sup- press the activities and populations of one or more plant * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ39 081 2539371, þ39 3290758021(mobile). E-mail address: luciano.bosso@unina.it (L. Bosso). journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/funbio fungal biology xxx (2016) 1 e9 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.funbio.2016.01.004 1878-6146/ª 2016 The British Mycological Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Please cite this article in press as: Bosso L, et al., Assessing the effectiveness of Byssochlamys nivea and Scopulariopsis brumptii in pentachlorophenol removal and biological control of two Phytophthora species, Fungal Biology (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/ j.funbio.2016.01.004