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Roadmap for Culture Collections in India to Enrich Themselves with Indigenous Fungal Biodiversity


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1 Department of Botany, Mata Gujri Mahila Mahavidyalaya, Civic Centre, Marhatal, Jabalpur 482 001, India
 

India is a tropical country with a wide variety of habitat types that harbour a great diversity of fungi1. These fungi include both beneficial forms like edible mushrooms, mould-producing industrial enzymes or other biotechnologically important products along with the ones like yeasts, indispensable for bread and wine industry and those that cause diseases in humans, animals and plants apart from a few that produce toxins. A large part of India’s fungal diversity is still unknown, as evidenced by regular reports of new genera or species being published2–8. During a recent study of Maharashtra soils covering 31 districts, we have so far recovered 2 new genera and 9 new species of keratinophilic fungi9. These findings suggest that even well-studied locations in India like Maharashtra harbour many novel taxa that might possess biotechnologically important properties. Therefore, there is need for a fresh, systematic survey of India’s soils (or other niches) to recover unknown fungi.
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  • Roadmap for Culture Collections in India to Enrich Themselves with Indigenous Fungal Biodiversity

Abstract Views: 362  |  PDF Views: 110

Authors

Rahul Sharma
Department of Botany, Mata Gujri Mahila Mahavidyalaya, Civic Centre, Marhatal, Jabalpur 482 001, India

Abstract


India is a tropical country with a wide variety of habitat types that harbour a great diversity of fungi1. These fungi include both beneficial forms like edible mushrooms, mould-producing industrial enzymes or other biotechnologically important products along with the ones like yeasts, indispensable for bread and wine industry and those that cause diseases in humans, animals and plants apart from a few that produce toxins. A large part of India’s fungal diversity is still unknown, as evidenced by regular reports of new genera or species being published2–8. During a recent study of Maharashtra soils covering 31 districts, we have so far recovered 2 new genera and 9 new species of keratinophilic fungi9. These findings suggest that even well-studied locations in India like Maharashtra harbour many novel taxa that might possess biotechnologically important properties. Therefore, there is need for a fresh, systematic survey of India’s soils (or other niches) to recover unknown fungi.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv117%2Fi6%2F920-921