Occurrence Of Dermatophytes And Related Keratinophilic Fungi From The Soil Of Betul India

Abstract

The entitled proposed work focused on the study deals with the prevalence of geophilic keratinophilic fungi and related dermatophytes from garbage soils near hair cutting salon, beauty parlours and slaughter house soil from Betul (M.P.), India, Different keratin rich substances like hair, nail, horn, feather and hoof were used as bait for colonization, and further isolation of keratinophilic fungi from soil samples. A total of 573 isolates (381 from the soil samples of hair cutting salons, 164 beauty parlours and 28 from slaughter houses) comprising of 14 species belonging to 7 genera were isolated from 146 soil samples. The most prevalent mycoflora comprised of Microsporum spp. and Chrysosporium spp. Though Aspergillus sps Trichophyton sps, Fusarium sps. Scopulariopsis sps and Penicillium sps were also traced. The occurrence of a common dermatophyte Microsporum gypseum in Betul soil is of much significance, as the fungus is reported to cause dermatophytosis in man. The keratinolytic ability of isolated 3 fungi namely Aspergillus niger, A. flavus and Chrysosporium indicum was assessed employing Lowry s method of protein estimation, measuring protein release, change in PH, structural damage and percentage weight loss of hair, Aspergillus niger exhibited the highest hair degrading capability with largest protein release, indicating correlation between protein release and keratinolytic ability of fungi, rupturing and blistering of hair cuticle also seen. Protease production by these three fungi was also investigated, in the present study to establish a correlation between proteases production and their proteolytic more specifically keratinolytic activity. newlineProtease production started after 72 hours of incubation and was measured in terms of Pz values. It was noted that very low Pz group showed highest protease production. Pz values for all the three fungi tested were found gradually decrease from 8th to 12th day, and Aspergillus niger reported highest values of protease production, followed by Aspergillus fla