Significant biogenesis of chlorinated aromatics by fungi in natural environments

Common wood- and forest litter-degrading fungi produce chlorinated anisyl metabolites. These compounds, which are structurally related to xenobiotic chloroaromatics, occur at high concentrations of approximately 75 mg of chlorinated anisyl metabolites kg of wood-1 or litter-1 in the environment. The widespread ability among common fungi to produce large amounts of chlorinated aromatic compounds in the environment makes us conclude that these kinds of compounds can no longer be considered to originate mainly from anthropogenic sources.