Keratinophilic fungi isolated from antarctic soil

Abstract

In the present study, 10 soil samples were collected aseptically from an equal number of areas of the Antarctic in the zone occupied by the 1986–1987 Italian expedition for research on keratinophilic fungi.

Of particular interest was the isolation of a pathogenic fungus, Microsporum gypseum, from two sites in the base camp occupied by men and by skuas. Trichophyton terrestre was isolated from a site in which people worked and through which penguins and skuas passed.

The most widespread fungal species were members of the genus Chrysosporium. Some of these species were isolated but not identified and this part of the study was still be completed.

Another significant finding was the absence of fungi in one sample, while in another the widespread and abundant growth in all the seeded dishes of a single species of Chrysosporium.

Other species in genera of general diffusion in many environments were also isolated : Aspergillus spp., Malbranchea sp., Mycelia sterilia spp., Paecilomyces sp., Penicillium spp. and Scopulariopsis spp.