Diversity of peat soil and antimicrobial activities of filamentous fungi from Kuala Langat, Selangor / Norzatushima Mohd Jamil

A total of 106 fungal isolates were isolated from peat soil samples collected at three different sites of Kuala Langat district namely Felcra Sijangkang, Pulau Carey and Pulau Kempas. The soil sampling involved three different depths which are top soil (0 to 30 cm), midway between top soil and water table (30 to 60 cm), and water table (60 to 90 cm). This study is focused on the diversity of peat soil filamentous fungi in Selangor and their antimicrobial potentials. The soil fungi were isolated by direct isolation and soil dilution techniques. The identification of these isolates then determined by integrating the conventional microscope as well as molecular approach. Based on morphological characteristics, seven genera of filamentous fungi were identified namely, Aspergillus sp., Penicillium sp., Trichoderma sp., Talaromyces sp., Neosartorya sp., Paecilomyces sp., and Curvularia sp. The ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region was applied for species determination of fungal communities because of its high degree of variation between related species. Out of 106 isolates from all three sampling sites, the most abundant fungi isolated was found to be Penicillium sp. with 22 isolates out of 77 identified fungal isolates, followed by Aspergillus sp. with 14 isolates, Trichoderma sp. with 12 isolates, Neosartorya sp. with 12 isolates and Talaromyces sp. with 10 isolates. These fungal isolates were then subjected to screening of their antimicrobial potentials against selected common bacterial and yeast strains. Positive results from this antimicrobial assays were further analysed by phylogenetic tree analysis to understand the relationship among fungal taxa involved. The results from this study have demonstrated that some peat soils in Selangor can be considered as valuable natural sources of filamentous fungi which having potent biological activities that can be exploited as antibacterial and antifungal. Since peat soil is important as major carbon storage but little is known of their ecology and microbial diversity, the interest in studying filamentous fungi isolated from this type of soil has increased.