Natural organohalogen production by basidiomycetes

Basidiomycetes are ecologically important higher fungi that synthesize three families of organohalogen metabolites: halomethanes, halogenated aromatics and haloaliphatic compounds. To date, a total of 53 halogenated metabolites have been identified in 34 genera of basidiomycetes. These organohalogen metabolites have demonstrable physiological roles as antibiotics, as methyl donors and as subsstrates for H₂O₂-generating oxidases. The concentration of chlorinated aromatic metabolites encountered in natural environments associated with the widespread occurrence of basidiomycetes have been shown to exceed the hazardous-waste norms that are applied to analogous anthropogenic chlorophenols in soil.