The antimicrobial activity of ethanol, petroleum ether, dichloromethane, ethyl acetate, methanol and aqueous whole plant extracts of Aerva tomentosa (Amaranthaceae) were tested against nine human pathogens such as Bacillus subtilis, Enterobactor aerogenes, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacterias and Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus niger, Candida albicans, Trichophyton rubrum and P...

Four hundred isolates obtained from soil samples collected from forest, river basin, agricultural fields and rhizosphere of plantation crops of North Bengal were screened for phosphate solubilizing activity on Pikovskaya’s agar medium. Among the screened isolates, ninety showed phosphate solubilizing activity. Out of these, ten isolates belonging to Aspergillus niger, A. melleus and A. clavatus...

Enzyme-retting of flax was accomplished via individual treatment with four polygalacturonase (PGase) containing solutions of various fungal sources and the resulting fibers were characterized. The retting solutions were equilibrated to contain 2.19 U of PGase activity as determined via a dinitrosalicylic acid (DNS) reducing sugar assay. As compared with the buffer control, treatment with the va...

Wastewater from swine confined-housing operations contains elevated levels of copper and zinc due to their abundance in feed. These metals may accumulate to phytotoxic levels in some agricultural soils of North Carolina due to land application of treated swine effluent. We evaluated fungi for their ability to remove these metals from wastewater and found Aspergillus niger best suited for this p...

The genus Sphecotypus O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1895, is currently represented by three species: S. birmanicus (Thorell, 1897) from Myanmar and Borneo, S. taprobanicus Simon, 1897 from Sri Lanka, and S. niger (Perty, 1833) from Central and South America. Of the three currently known species, only S. birmanicus has both sexes described, whereas the other two species are known from female specimens o...

The possible use of cotton waste as a carbohydrate source of citric acid production by Aspergillus niger was examined. No citric acid was produced when A. niger was grown on cotton waste as a sole carbon source. In two-stage fermentations, however, mycelium obtained from surface cultures in cotton waste medium yielded more citric acid when transferred to sucrose-containing media than when direc...

The effect of mono-culture fungal fermentation on mineral composition and amino acid profile of mango (Mangifera indica) kernel cake was investigated. Rhizopus oligosporus, Aspergillus niger, Rhizopus stolonifer and Penicillium chrysogenum were isolated from decomposed mango kernels and then used to ferment mango kernel cake (MKC) for 168hrs. After fermentation the resulted MKC was dried at 60C...

1. Tightly coupled mitochondria were isolated from Aspergillus niger by using an all-glass homogenizer followed by differential centrifugation. 2. The mitochondria oxidized the common intermediates of the tricarboxylic acid cycle, NADH(2) and the ascorbate-tetramethyl-p-phenylenediamine system. 3. High P/O ratios and control of respiration by ADP were obtained with all substrates tested. The av...

Geoactive soil fungi were examined for their ability to release inorganic phosphate (Pi ) and mediate lead bioprecipitation during growth on organic phosphate substrates. Aspergillus niger and Paecilomyces javanicus grew in 5 mM Pb(NO3)2-containing media amended with glycerol 2-phosphate (G2P) or phytic acid (PyA) as sole P sources, and liberated Pi into the medium. This resulted in almost comp...

The antimicrobial activity of ethanol and chloroform extracts of Pentanema divaricatum Cass. was studied using the conventional disk diffusion method. The extracts' highest antimicrobial activity was observed against Aspergillus niger. Bioassay-guided fractionation of the crude extract by preparative thin layer chromatography (PTLC) showed one antimicrobial fraction which was especially effecti...