Abstract:

 In the Earth's lithosphere, fungi are of fundamental significance as organism decomposers, animal and plant pathogens and symbionts, being ubiquitous in subaerial and subsoil environments. The ability of fungi to interact with rock or mineral substrates through their growth and metabolic activities, makes them an important participator in geochemical processes. The principal roles include the fungi-promoted mineral weathering, mycogenic mineral formation, nutrient and metal elements transformation and immobilization. In recent years, the bioleaching technologies derived from biological weathering have beneficial applications in the biomining, bio-beneficiation, as well as the bioremediation of contaminated soils and industrial solid waste. Moreover, the research on fungi as the biosorbents reveals that fungi can be applicable to remove metal or organic pollutants from the industrial wastewater and contaminated groundwater. Therefore, it is fully essential to understand the fungal activities encompassed within geomicrobiology. This mini review summarized current progresses of biological geological process for fungi, with focuses on biological weathering,biomineralization and environmental bioremediation, and future perspectives were proposed to better understand the important fungal functions in geomicrobiology and to catalyze further research in the field.

Key words:  fungi;geomicrobiology;biologicalweathering;biomineralization;environmentalbioremediation