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In Vitro Response of Fungi Isolated From Mangrove Plants in Morib to
Lead (Pb) Stress
Nur Afiqah Binti Mohd Radzuan
Supervisor: Dr. Nurul Aliaa binti Idris
Bachelor of Science (Biological Sciences)
School of Fundamental Science
Mycorrhizal fungi are known to play a role in helping plants tolerate heavy metal stress.
Mangrove plants have high tolerance to heavy metal stress through the interaction
with mycorrhizae. Therefore, to understand further on mycorrhizae functioning as
mediator to metals toxicity, this study was done to isolate and identify mycorrhizae
from mangrove in Morib and screen for lead (Pb) tolerance. Three fungal species were
isolated and identified as Penicillium pinophilum, Aspergillus fumigatus and Aspergillus
niger. In vitro Pb tolerance screening in different concentration (100 mg/L, 500 mg/L,
1000 mg/L) of Pb on Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA) showed that all the isolated fungi
were able to tolerate the lead metal even at the highest concentration of 1000mg/L.
However, the growth rates were lower than normal. It is hoped that the discovery of
novel species of mycorrhizae that are able to tolerate heavy metal stress will benefit
efforts in bioremediation of land for agriculture.
364 | U M T U N D E R G R A D U A T E R E S E A R C H D A Y 2018