Fungi harboring lignocellulolytic activity accelerate the composting process of agricultural wastes; however, using thermophilic fungal isolates for this process has been paid little attention. Moreover, exogenous nitrogen sources may differently affect fungal lignocellulolytic activity. A total of 250 thermophilic fungi were isolated from local compost and vermicompost samples. First, the isolates were qualitative assayed for ligninase and cellulase activities using Congo red (CR) and carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) as substrates, respectively. Then, twenty superior isolates harboring higher ligninase and cellulase activities were selected and quantitatively assayed for both enzymes in basic mineral (BM) liquid medium supplemented with the relevant substrates and nitrogen sources including (NH4)2SO4 (AS), NH4NO3 (AN), urea (U), AS + U (1:1), or AN + U (1:1) with final nitrogen concentration of 0.3 g/L. The highest ligninase activities of 99.94, 89.82, 95.42, 96.25, and 98.34% of CR decolorization were recorded in isolates VC85, VC94, VC85, C145, and VC85 in the presence of AS, U, AS + U, AN, and AN + U, respectively. Mean ligninase activity of 63.75% in superior isolates was achieved in the presence of AS and ranked the highest among other N compounds. The isolates C200 and C184 exhibited the highest cellulolytic activity in the presence of AS and AN + U by 8.8 and 6.5 U/ml, respectively. Mean cellulase activity of 3.90 U/mL was achieved in AN + U and ranked the highest among other N compounds. Molecular identification of twenty superior isolates confirmed that all of them are belonging to Aspergillus fumigatus group. Focusing on the highest ligninase activity of the isolate VC85 in the presence of AS, the combination can be recommended as a potential bio-accelerator for compost production.

Department of Plant Protection Faculty of Agriculture Sivas University of Science and Technology Sivas Turkey

Department of Plant Protection Faculty of Agriculture University of Tabriz Tabriz Iran

Department of Soil Science Faculty of Agriculture University of Tabriz Tabriz Iran

See more in PubMed

Acharya PB, Acharya DK, Modi HA (2008) Optimization for cellulase production by Aspergillus niger using sawdust as substrate. Afr J Biotechnol 7. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-010-0431-6

Asses N, Ayed L, Hkiri N, Hamdi M (2018) Congo red decolorization and detoxification by Aspergillus niger: removal mechanisms and dye degradation pathway. Biomed Res Int. https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/3049686 DOI

Bradner J, Gillings M, Nevalainen K (1999) Qualitative assessment of hydrolytic activities in Antarctic micro fungi grown at diferent temperatures on solid media. World J Microbiol Biotechnol 15:131–132. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008855406319 DOI

Datta R, Kelkar A, Baraniya D, Molaei A, Moulick A, Meena RS, Formanek P (2017) Enzymatic degradation of lignin in soil: a review. Sustainability 9:1163. https://doi.org/10.3390/su9071163 DOI

Dhakar K, Pandey A (2013) Laccase production from a temperature and pH tolerant fungal strain of Trametes hirsuta (MTCC 11397). Enzyme Res. https://doi.org/10.1155/2013/869062 DOI

Florencio C, Couri S, Farinas CS (2012) Correlation between agar plate screening and solid-state fermentation for the prediction of cellulase production by Trichoderma strains. Enzyme Res. https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/793708 DOI

Hemati A, Aliasgharzad N, Khakvar R (2018) In vitro evaluation of lignocellulolytic activity of thermophilic bacteria isolated from different composts and soils of Iran. Biocatal Agric Biotechnol 1:424–430. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bcab.2018.04.010 DOI

Hölker U, Höfer M, Lenz J (2004) Biotechnological advantages of laboratory scale solid-state fermentation with fungi. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 64:175–186. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-003-1504-3 DOI

Huang GF, Wong JW, Wu QT, Nagar BB (2004) Effect of C/N on composting of pig manure with sawdust. J Waste Manag 24:805–813. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2004.03.011 DOI

Ianeva OD, Voronina GO, Pidgorskyi VS (2013) Isolation and characteristics of the lactose-fermenting yeast Candida kefyr. Cytol Gen 47:359–365. https://doi.org/10.3390/fermentation8040183 DOI

Kachlishvili E, Penninckx MJ, Tsiklauri N, Elisashvili V (2006) Effect of nitrogen source on lignocellulolytic enzyme production by white-rot basidiomycetes under solid-state cultivation. World J Microbiol Biotechnol 22:391–397. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-005-9046-8 DOI

Kluepfel D (1988) Screening of prokaryotes for cellulose-and hemicellulose degrading enzymes. In: Kellogg ST (ed) Methods in enzymology, vol 160. Elsevier, pp 180–186. https://doi.org/10.1016/0076-6879(88)60118-2 DOI

Kwang-Soo S, Chang-Jin K (1998) Decolorization of artificial dyes by peroxidase from the white-rot fungus, Pleurotus ostreatus. Biotechnol Lett 20:569–572. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005301812253 DOI

Leslie J, Summerell B (2006) Fusarium laboratory workshops a recent history. Mycotoxin Res 22:73–74. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02956766 DOI

Maheshwari R, Bharadwaj G, Bhat MK (2000) Thermophilic fungi: their physiology and enzymes. Microbiol Mol Biol Rev 64:461–488. https://doi.org/10.1128/mmbr.64.3.461-488 DOI

Malherbe S, Cloete TE (2002) Lignocellulose biodegradation: fundamentals and applications. Rev Environ Sci Biotechnol 1:105–114. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1020858910646 DOI

Malloch D (1981) Moulds: their isolation, cultivation, and identification. University of Toronto Press, Toronto

Mandels M, Weber J (1969) Production of cellulases. In: Hajny GJ, Reese ET (eds) Cellulases and their applications, vol 95, Chapter 93. Advances in chemistry series. ACS Publications, pp 391–414. https://doi.org/10.1021/ba-1969-0095.ch023 DOI

Motteram J, Küfner I, Deller S, Brunner F, Hammond-Kosack KE, Nürnberger T, Rudd JJ (2009) Molecular characterization and functional analysis of MgNLP, the sole NPP1 domain–containing protein, from the fungal wheat leaf pathogen Mycosphaerella graminicola. Mol Plant Microbe Interact 22:790–799. https://doi.org/10.1094/mpmi-22-7-0790 DOI

Narsale PV, Patel SR, Acharya P (2018) Role of Aspergillus flavus on biodegradation of lignocellulosic waste millet straw and optimization parameters for enzyme hydrolysis and ethanol production under solid state fermentation. Int J Curr Microbiol App Sci 7:429–445. https://doi.org/10.20546/ijcmas.2018.702.055 DOI

Pang AP, Zhang F, Hu X, Luo Y, Wang H, Durrani S, Lin F (2021) Glutamine involvement in nitrogen regulation of cellulase production in fungi. Biotechnol Biofuels 14:1–16. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13068-021-02046-1 DOI

Pereira WV (2009) Caracterização e identificação molecular de espécies de Colletotrichum associadas à antracnose da goiaba no Estado de São Paulo. Universidade de São Paulo. https://doi.org/10.11606/D.11.2010.tde-26022010-082342 (Doctoral dissertation) DOI

Rodriguez-Gomez D, Hobley TJ (2013) Is an organic nitrogen source needed for cellulase production by Trichoderma reesei Rut-C30. World J Microbiol Biotechnol 29:2157–2165. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-013-1381-6 DOI

Sierra SA (1957) Simple method for detection of lipolytic activity of microorganisms and some observations on the influence of the contact between cells and fatty substrates. Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek, Wageningen 23:15–22. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02545855 DOI

Sun X, Zhang R, Zhang Y (2004) Production of lignocellulolytic enzymes by Trametes gallica and detection of polysaccharide hydrolase and laccase activities in polyacrylamide gels. J Basic Microbiol 44(3):220–231. https://doi.org/10.1002/jobm.200310376 DOI

Teather RM, Wood PJ (1982) Use of Congo red-polysaccharide interactions in enumeration and characterization of cellulolytic bacteria from the bovine rumen. Appl Environ Microbiol 43:777–780. https://doi.org/10.1128/aem.43.4.777-780.1982 DOI

Tekere M, Zvauya R, Read JS (2001) Ligninolytic enzyme production in selected sub-tropical white rot fungi under diferent culture conditions. J Basic Microbiol 41:115–129. https://doi.org/10.1002/1521-4028 DOI

Trigiano RN, Windham MT, Windham AS (2016) Fitopatologia: conceitos e exercícios de laboratório. Artmed Editora.LINK

Vermelho AP, Coelho A, Souto-Padron RRR (2006) de Microbiologia TP, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

White TJ, Bruns TD, Lee SB, Taylor JW (1990) Amplification and direct sequencing of fungal ribosomal RNA genes for phylogenetics. In: Innis MA, Gelfand DH, Sninsky JJ, White TJ (Eds) PCR Protocols: A Guide to Methods and Applications, Academic Press, New York, pp  315–322. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-372180-8.50042-1

Wong KH, Hynes MJ, Davis MA (2008) Recent advances in nitrogen regulation: a comparison between Saccharomyces cerevisiae and filamentous fungi. Eukaryot Cell 7:917–925. https://doi.org/10.1128/EC.00076-08 DOI

Yang H, Zhang H, Qiu H, Anning DK, Li M, Wang Y, Zhang C (2021) Effects of C/N ratio on lignocellulose degradation and enzyme activities in aerobic composting. Horticulturae 7:482. https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae7110482 DOI