Wool‐colonizing micro‐organisms capable of utilizing wool‐lipids and fatty acids as sole sources of carbon and energy

A l M usallam , A.A. & R adwan , S.S. 1990. Wool‐colonizing micro‐organisms capable of utilizing wool‐lipids and fatty acids as sole sources of carbon and energy. Journal of Applied Bacteriology 69 , 806–813. Two keratinolytic fungi, Chrysosporium keratinophilum and Malbranchea anamorph of Uncinocarpus reesii , and another three wool‐colonizing fungi not previously reported to be keratinolytic, Aspergillus fumigatus, A. flavus and Scopulariopsis Candida , were isolated from soil samples baited with animal wool. These fungi were tested for their ability to utilize wool‐lipids as sole source of carbon and energy. The lipid contents of wool of various animals ranged between 2 and 5%. The different lipid extracts were similar in composition; they contained steryl esters, sterols, fatty acids, fatty alcohols and monoacylglycerols. The predominant acyl moiety in wool‐lipids of different animals was linolenic acid (18:2). The five fungi tested grew well on an inorganic medium supplemented with total wool‐lipids as sole sources of carbon and energy. Individual lipid classes fractionated by preparative thin layer chromatography and suspended into inorganic medium were able to support fungal growth as sole carbon sources. These fungi and another eight wool‐colonizing strains. C. tropicum, C. zonatum, C . anamorph of Arthroderma curryei, Microsporum cams, M. distortum, Trichophyton interdigitale, Emmonsia parva and Myceliophthora vellerae could also utilize standard lipids and fatty acids (cholesterol and palmitic and linoleic acids)‐ Evidence for the uptake and degradation of chloesterol by C. keratmophilum is presented.