Sunday, July 26, 2009
P9

Hydrolytic enzyme diversity among native fungi: Aspergillus is the most important and diverse genus of hydrolase producer

Muhammad Sohail, Microbiology, University of Karachi, University Road, Karachi, Pakistan

One hundred and sixty fungal strains were isolated from the native environment including soil, plant, deteriorating distempered wall and spoiled orange-juice samples. A large proportion of fungal strains belonged to the genus Aspergillus followed by genera Alternaria, Fusarium, Penicillium, Paecilomyces, Basidiomyces, Cladosporium, Curvularia, Rhizocotonia, Trichoderma, Macrophomina, Botryodiplodia, Monilia, Gliocladium  and Rhizopus. These strains were sorted on the basis of their hydrolytic potential of starch, cellulose, protein, xylan and pectin. Some of these strains were also grown in shake-flask and specific amylase, cellulase, protease, xylanase and pectinase assays were performed to quantitatively evaluate their hydrolytic potential. Aspergillus appeared to possess the greatest diversity in terms of high titer of all the investigated hydrolases.