Biodegradation of reactive green dye (RGD) by indigenous fungal strain VITAF-1

•Enhanced ability of indigenous Aspergillus strain VITAF-1 in uptake and removal of reactive green dye.•Confirmation of the degradation of reactive green dye using HPLC, FTIR and GC-MS.•Inactivated biomass biosorption experiment for adsorption studies.•18S rRNA characterization for identification of the effective fungal strain.

Present study demonstrates the decolourization and degradation of reactive green dye (RGD) by indigenous fungal strain VITAF-1 isolated from dye contaminated sites of Tirupur district, T.N, India. The intensive metabolic activity of VITAF-1 led to 97.9% decolourization of RGD within 48 h at 30 ± 2 °C temperature in Minimal Salt Media (MSM). VITAF-1 had a strong capability to decolourize elevated concentrations of reactive green dye (250 mg L−1–1500 mg L−1) over a pH range of 3.0–9.0. Induction of oxidoreductive enzymes like laccase, LiP and DCIP reductase confirmed their potential role in degradation. Decolourization assay with living and dead biomass of VITAF-1 revealed its ability in absorbing RGD. The degradation capability of the isolate VITAF-1 was monitored using UV–Vis spectrophotometer, HPLC and FTIR analysis, further the degraded product was identified as benzoic acid, 2(-1-oxopropyl) by GC-MS. 18S rRNA gene sequencing confirmed the fungal strain VITAF-1 to be the nearest neighbour of Aspergillus sp.