Keratinolytic and keratinophilic fungi in the soils of Papua New Guinea

✍ Scribed by V. Filipello Marchisio; D. Curetti; C. Cassinelli; C. Bordese

• Publisher: Springer Netherlands
• Year: 1991
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 420 KB
• Volume: 115
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0301-486X
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00436799

✦ Synopsis

A study was made of soil samples collected during an expedition to the Highlands of Papua New Guinea. Fungi were isolated from the samples by the method of hair baiting (To-Ka-Va). Of the 33 species isolated, about half showed keratinolytic activity. Such activity is previously unreported for Mucor hiemalis f. hiernalis, Myrothecium roridurn, Paecilornyces carneus, P. marquandii, Penicilliurn brevicompactum, RhinocladielIa rnansonii and Verticilliurn lecanii. The species most active keratinolytically were Chrysosporium an. Arthroderma cuniculi, C. an. A. curreyi, C. indicurn, Myceliophthora vellerea and Trichophyton ajelloi. The spectrum of fungi with keratinolytic activity isolated from the different sites differed considerably according to the frequency of use by man, heaviest use being correlated with greatest activity. The pH of the soil (varying from 5.8-7.5) had little influence on the type of such fungi isolated.