Isolation and identification of thermotolerant and thermophilic fungi from soil and compost in Kermanshah province (West of Iran)

Abstract

An investigation was carried out on the occurrence of thermotolerantand thermophilic fungi in 11 soil samples collected from cultivated and natural regions in Kermanshah province (Mahidasht, Harsin, Kerend, Eslamabad-e Gharb, Qasr-e Shirin, Sarpol-e Zahab, Javanrood, and Gilan-e Gharb), municipal waste compost and mushroom compost, 2017–19. Fungal isolates were recovered using the soil dilution plate method on potato dextrose agar at 45 and 50 °C. Totally, 24 fungal isolates were obtained from soil and compost. DNA extraction was carried out using a Genomic DNA Purification kit. The ITS1, 5.8S, and ITS2 (ITS) Regions were amplified using ITS1 and ITS4 primers. Fragments about 500–700 bp were amplified and after sequencing deposited in GenBank. Based on morphological characters and sequence data of the the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) rDNA, these fungi were identified as Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus nidulans, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus terrus, Melanocarpus albomyces*, Malbranchea cinnamomea*, Thermomyces dupontii*, Thermomyces lanuginosus*, and Thielavia arenaria*. Asterisks indicate species that are the new records for the mycobiota of Iran. The abundance of thermophilic fungi in municipal waste compost was greater than in soil, and Aspergillus species were the most abundant fungi identified in this study. The voucher isolates were deposited in the Fungal Reference Collection of the Ministry of Jihad-e-Agriculture at the Iranian Research Institute of Plant Protection, Tehran, Iran.