Biodiversity of keratinophilic fungi in Taiwan
Date Issued
2014
Date
2014
Author(s)
Sun, Pei-Lun
Abstract
Keratinophilic fungi are a special group of fungi using keratin as their nutrient source. They can degrade a variety of keratinous substances such as hairs, feathers, horn, skin debris, which are composed mainly of α-keratin. Due to the strong disulfide bond, constituents of keratinous substances can be degraded into carbon, nitrogen and sulfur only by keratinophilic fungi, which make recycling of these substances in the ecosystem possible. Most of keratinophilic fungi belong to Onygenales (Ascomycota, Pezizomycotina, Eurotiomycetes, Onygenales), which is composed of about six families and 41 genera, including many important pathogenic fungi of humans and animals. The aim of this study is to survey the biodiversity of keratinophic fungi in Taiwan. We collected 563 samples, including 523 animal fur coat samples from dogs, cats, rabbits, rats, and bats, and 40 soil samples. Among the 334 strains isolated, 140 belong to Onygenales, which can be categorized into three families, nine genera and 30 species. Five Arachnomycetalean fungi can be categorized to one family, one genus and two species. Most of them are new to Taiwan. There are also several new species to be described. A fairly high diversity is revealed in the current study despite that the samples were mainly collected from northern and eastern Taiwan and more collecting needs to be made elsewhere in Taiwan.
Subjects
嗜角質
真菌
多樣性
臺灣
爪甲團囊菌目
Type
thesis
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