Plasma, blood and milk-clotting enzymes of some fungi

ABSTRACT

Isolation of fungal species from blood and whey by centrifugation technique was earned out. Aspergillus niger was the most frequent species in both sources. A. sydowi, A. tubingensis, Candida albicans and Cladosporium flavum dominated the blood cultures while Candida albicans, C. tropicalis, Cladosporium flavum, Aspergillus sydowi and Paecilomyces divaricated dominated whey cultures. The isolated fungi were mesophilic, thermophilic or thermotolerant. Plasma, blood and milk-clotting assays revealed that extracellular enzymes in the culture filtrates were more active in clotting the three substrates than intracellular enzymes in cell-free extract The whole blood clotted faster than its plasma. The results also showed that extracellular and intracellular enzymes were different and their activity depended upon the age of culture and kind of fungal species. Among nine assayed species, Aspergillus sydowi was the most promising in clotting whole blood, plasma and milk either extracellularly or intracellularly