Sewage sludge was examined for keratinolytic and keratinophilic fungi by means of a multi-temperature (23, 26, 29, 33, 37 and 45oC) hair baiting method. Results indicate that this method can be a useful tool for determination of the influence of temperature and other factors on fungal composition in sludge and evaluation of health risk posed by fungal pathogens. The use of the method facilitate...

The mycobiota of 160 hair and nail samples collected from 4 different governorates in upper Egypt were estimated using soil plate method for isolating keratinophilic and dermatophytic fungi. Twenty-three fungi were recorded on both hair and nail samples collected from the four governorates. Highest fungal diversity (20) was collected from Red Sea samples followed by Qena (18) and Aswan (17) whi...

Keratinophilic fungi are natural colonizers of keratinic substrates. Some are keratinolytic and play an important ecological role in decomposing α-keratins, the insoluble fibrous proteins. Because of the tight packing of their polypeptide chains in α-helix structures and their linkage by disulphide bridges, they are poorly biodegradable. Two main forms of attack have been identified: surface er...

A total of 15 keratinophilic fungi including 8 Chrysosporium species were isolated from the rural environment of Ismailia, Egypt, using the hair bait technique. Mainly, C. zonatum was isolated from soils collected from fields, animal cages, besides cows and buffaloes hairs and was identified macroscopically, microscopically and using the molecular technique by determining the DNA sequences of I...

The Soil supports a range of microorganisms and is one of the most complex microbial habitats, allowing the fungi to sustain their entire life cycle. Soil is a cosmopolitan habitat for majority of microbial population that can be explored to find out more specific fungal flora.1 The soils rich in keratinous material were found to more conducive for keratinophilic fungi2−11 where this group of f...