“Scientific work funded from the budget for science by National Center of Research and Development” Metabolic Diversity and characterization of selected cellulolytic fungi isolated from organic waste Anna Pawlik 1 , Magdalena Frąc 2 , Grzegorz Janusz 1 , Karolina Oszust 2 , Anna Siczek 2 , Agata Gryta 2 1 Maria Curie-Skłodowska University , Department of Biochemistry, Akademicka 19, 20-033 Lublin, POLAND e-mail: anna.pawlik@poczta.umcs.lublin.pl 2 Institute of Agrophysics Polish Academy of Sciences in Lublin, Doświadczalna 4, 20-290 Lublin 27, POLAND e-mail: m.frac@ipan.lublin.pl RESULTS Individual fungal strains varied in their ability to attack various substrates. In general, a correlation was found among substrate utilization, cellulotytic zone on agar plates (Q coefficient) and the ability to filter paper decomposition. Tested strains have potential in degradation of cellulolytic compounds, which could be useful in the first stage of methane fermentation process. The obtained results also confirm the usefulness of the proposed methods in the assessment of fungi metabolic diversity through analysis of biochemical data. INTRODUCTION Organic waste contains high amount of cellulose, which is an ideal for the growth of cellulolytic microorganisms. Morphological and biochemical uniqueness of these organisms are commonly used for their identification and characterization. OBJECTIVE The presented work mainly focused on biochemical diversity of selected fungi isolated from organic waste subjected to methane fermenation and their ability to cellulase production. MATERIALS AND METHODS Metabolic characterization of micoorganisms isolated from organic waste was done using BIOLOG TM system. The Biolog FF MicroPlate was applied for rapid characterization of filamentous fungi based on their abilities to utilize 95 discrete substrates. The metabolic pattern of particular guilds group (carbohydrates, amino acids, amines and amides, carboxylic acids, polymers and miscellaneous) was assessed for all microorganisms. For the detection of extracellilar cellulase production 2% of cellulose agar plate and Gram’s iodine was used [1]. The zone of clearance around the colony were observed and measured (Qc values). Filter paper activity (FPase) for total cellulase activity in the culture filtrate was determined according to the standard protocol [2]. REFERENCES 1. Kasana R.C., Salwan R., Dhar H., Dutt S., Gulati A., 2008. A rapid and easy method for the detection of microbial cellulases on agar plates using Gram's iodine. Curr. Microb., 57, 503-507. 2. Ghose, T.K. 1987. Measurement of cellulase activities. Pure & Appl. Chem. 59: 257-268. FEMS 2013 5th Congress of European Microbiologists , 21-25 VII Leipzig, Germany Fungal species Strain number Potential cellulolytic activity – Qc values Incubation time (h) 24 48 72 96 120 Penicillium sp. G45/11 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 2.0 Byssochlamys nivea G49/11 4.0 1.6 1.5 0.0 0.0 Penicillium camembertii G72/11 12.1 1.9 4.8 0.0 4.3 Aspergillus fumigatus G86/11 5.8 0.0 2.3 5.3 12.0 Botryotinia narcissicola G110/11 1.6 1.2 2.3 2.2 2.1 Results of cluster analysis for selected strains based on metabolic profiles G110/11 G72/11 G49/11 G86/11 G45/11 0,2 0,3 0,4 0,5 0,6 0,7 0,8 0,9 1,0 Bond distance