The diversity and function of the in-situ fungal communities in response to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the urban wetland

PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) increases the potential harm to ecosystem and human health. The fungi is considered as a powerful choice for degradation of PAHs. The researches on the effect of PAHs on fungal population in sediment/soil mostly stayed in the laboratory simulation that is based on extreme pollution. This study investigated the fungal population of the urban wetland by high-throughput sequencing in-situ micro-pollution state. Our statistical analysis revealed significant difference in the whole fungal population at the phylum among three land use types in typical urban wetland. Among them, Ascomycota was the dominant fungi at the phyla in three land use types. Fungal genus of degrading PAHs were significantly correlated with Dibenz[a, h]anthracene (P = 0.018) in ditch wetland, Total Organic Carbon (P = 0.02) and Fluoranthene (P = 0.04) in riverine wetland, and Electrical Conductivity (P = 0.018) in agricultural land. PICRUSt (Phylogenetic Investigation of Communities by Reconstruction of Unobserved States) suggested that 20 enzymes were present related to PAHs metabolism in three land use types. Specifically, monoxygenase, dehydrogenase, and laccase were most abundant among inferred enzymes, indicating that the urban wetland had potential for the degradation of PAHs. This study contributed to in-depth understanding of the structure and function of fungal population and provided a theoretical basis for PAHs microbial remediation in the in-situ environment.