Isolation of Penicillium Sp. and Its Antagonistic Activity against Dermatophytes from Volcano Soil of Baratang Island, Andaman

Penicillium sp. was isolated from the mud volcano of Baratang Island, Andaman, were tested for the growth inhibition against four fungal species of dermatophytes viz., Epidermophyton flococususm, Microsprum gypseum, Tricophyton rubrum, Tricophyton mentagraphytes. Three different concentration of fungal suspension (10μl, 25 μl and50 μl) were tested using disc diffusion method. Penicillium sp. showed promising antidermatophytic activities against all four pathogens. Among the concentration tested maximum activity against M. gypseum (25mm) in the concentration of 50 μl and minimum activity expressed against E. flococusum (9mm) in the concentration of 10 μl. Further, the isolation and characterization of the novel anti-dermatophytic compound is in progress. INTRODUCTION: Marine fungi are heterotrophic microorganisms, occurring commonly as saprotrophus and parasites. In general, they occur as saprotrophytus in the large particulate detritus and also as parasites on plants and animals . But, prevalence of their different taxonomic groups of fungi varies greatly with varying substrates and extends from the temperate oceans to the polar oceans. Although widespread in terrestrial habitats, they have reminded under explored from various extreme marine habitats. The isolation of these extremophilic fungi is very essential as they might be potential sources of enzymes with scientific and commercial interests. Among the various fungal species Penicillium sp. are important species of fungus which is known not only due to their widespread occurrence but also because of their ability to produce mycotoxins and other secondary metabolites . The term “Dermatophyte” literally means “Skin Plant”. The documental use of the word did not appear until 1882 . The infections they cause have been existed for hundreds of thousands of years. Currently, dermatophytes are most common infectious agents of humans and are found among all peoples throughout the world. The most infectious elements of the dermatophytes are the arthroconidia that are found in vivo . They can be divided into three major groups on the basis of their natural habitat and host preferences 1 anthropophilic species, which make humans their primary lost and rarely infect lower animals, (ii) zoophilic species, which make lower animals their primary hosts, but can also infect humans; (iii) geophilic species, which live as saprophytes in soil and occasionally infect humans or lower animals. The natural preferred ecology of the etiologic agent of human infection is clinically significant, as the fungi that are geophilic or zoophilic tend to produce more marked skin reaction than those that are anthoropophilic .