Isolation of Keratinophilic Fungi and Aerobic Actinomycetes From Park Soils in Gorgan, North of Iran

Abstract

Background: Keratinophilic fungi are a group of fungi that colonize in various keratinous substrates and degrade them to the components with low molecular weight. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of keratinophilic fungi and aerobic Actinomycetes in soil of city parks in Gorgan. Objectives: In this study, we surveyed the city park soils of Gorgan (a northern province of Iran) to determine the identities and diversity of soil aerobic Actinomycetes, keratinophilic and non-keratinophilic fungi. Materials and Methods: A total of 244 soil samples were collected from 22 different parks of Gorgan, North of Iran. The samples were collected from the superficial layer with depth not exceeding than 0-10 cm in sterile polyethylene bags. We used hair bait technique for isolation keratinophilic fungi. The colonies identified by macroscopic and microscopic characterization after slide culturing. Actinomycetes were isolated by antibiotic dilution methods and detected by using physiological tests such as Lysozyme, Casein, Xanthine, Hypoxanthine, Gelatin, Urea Broth, and modified acid-fast stain. Results: Totally, 75 isolates of aerobic Actinomycetes were detected that Actinomadura madurae and Nocardia asteroides were the most prevalent strains, with 14.66 and 28% prevalence respectively. Microsporum gypseum was more frequent than other keratinophilic fungi (22.96%) and Aspergillus spp. was the most species of saprophyte fungi (15.92%). Conclusions: This study showed that the collected soil from studied areas was rich of keratinophilic fungi and Actinomycetes, therefore hygiene protocol should be taken to prevent the spread of pathogenic and saprophytes fungi in the environment of susceptible person.

Culturable Fungi from Urban Soils in China I: Description of 10 New Taxa

“…The hair baiting technique was first used to isolate keratinophilic fungi from the soil by Vanbreuseghem ( 34 ) and has become applied widely. So far, the investigation of such resources is still dominated by traditional isolated cultures and baiting with materials of human or animal origin, such as feathers ( 35 ), horsehair ( 4 ), wool ( 36 ), human hair ( 37 ), and human nails ( 38 ). Only a small number of studies have used next-generation sequencing technologies ( 39 ).…”

Identification of Mucorales isolates from soil using morphological and molecular methods

“…Malek et al . [ 34 ] isolated 17 different fungal genera from the soil of parks in Gorgan, Iran. Overall, 36% of the isolates were related to Zygomycetes , and the genus Mucor was the most frequent isolate among other Zygomycetes genera.…”

Prevalence of Non-Dermatophytic Molds Associated with Cutaneous Mycoses in Cattle in Abia and Imo States, Nigeria

“…In this present study Aspergillus spp., spp., Absidia spp., Cladosporium Penicillum spp. were the most frequently isolated non-dermatophytic mold in this study; this is not surprising as these molds have been reported to be highly ubiquitous in nature 30,31,32,33]. A number of skin infections in man and animal has also been linked to them especially in immunocompromised host and onychomycosis [34,35,36,37].…”