Vol.3, No.6, 466-470 (2011) Natural Science http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ns.2011.36064 Copyright © 2011 SciRes. OPEN ACCESS Influence of detergent on metabolic activity of fungi Aspergillus niger Jelica Stojanović 1 , Violeta Jakovljević 1 , Ivana Matović 1 , Olgica Gajović 2 , Zoran Mijušković 3 , Tomislav Nedeljković 2 1 Faculty of Science, University of Kragujevac, Kragujevac, Serbia; * corresponding author: jelica@kg.ac.rs 2 Medical Faculty, University of Kragujevac, Kragujevac, Serbia 3 Military Medical Academy, Belgrade, Serbia Received 1 April 2011; revised 28 April 2011; accepted 10 May 2011. ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to find out, among grate variety of fungi species from wastewater these which are resistant to effects of detergent and its component, ethoxyl-oleyl-cetyl alcohol and sodium tripolyphosphate. On inoculated fungi specie grown in vitro condition, in the presence of mentioned pollutant, the metabolic changes of bioproduction of different organic compounds, in various aging step of fungi, have been investigated. The results indicated sig- nificant changes in bioproduction of amino ac- ids and proteins of Aspergillus niger cultivated in the presence of detergent and its component, compared with control experiment. The results suggest that bioremediation by Aspergillus ni- ger are promising for biodegradation of deter- gents in aquatic systems. Keywords: Aspergillus Niger; Detergent; Bioproduction; Wastewater; Biodegradation 1. INTRODUCTION Detergents are formulations designed to have clean- ing/solubilisation properties. These formulations consist of surface-active agents (surfactants) together with sub- sidiary components including builders (e.g. tripolyphos- phate), boosters, filters and auxiliary compounds. Sur- factants are a group of organic compounds achieved by chemical synthesis and characterized for specific behav- ior in solution that makes them especially suitable for many human activities. Surfactant is an abbreviation for a surface-active agent that refers to its ability to reduce the interfacial tension between two phases. This behav- ior is caused by the molecular composition in the sur- factant, which has a hydrophobic part, composed of al- kyl chains, and another part that is an anionic or hydro- philic group [1]. A massive stream of surfactants is directed to the aq- uatic environment. Surfactants are probably the largest supplier of artificial organic carbon to the aquatic envi- ronment [2]. Even though surfactants are essentially non-toxic to man at the concentrations likely to be met in wastewaters, there is wide agreement that their presence both in natural freshwater sources and in other ecosys- tems is undesirable. The principal criterion for the eco- logical behavior of surfactant is their biodegradability [3]. Many researchers fortified that microorganisms, par- ticularly some kind of fungi, can act as potential degrad- ers of detergents [4,5]. Among the fungi which have such ability, filamentous fungi (Deuteromicotina) are especially distinguished due to their physiological and biochemical characteristics [6]. Specificity in apical growth of these fungi enables penetration in solid sub- strates and excretion of extracellular enzymes from vesi- cles on the top of hyphae to environment. Under the in- fluence of these enzymes complex organic compounds are decomposed to simpler which fungi can use for growth and development of mycelia and biomass accu- mulation [7-9]. The Aspergillus fungus was first recognized as an or- ganism in 1729 by Micheli [10]. The genus Aspergillus is found worldwide and consists of more than 180 offi- cially recognized species, and comprises a particularly important group of filamentous ascomycete species [11]. Although it includes the major filamentous fungal pa- thogen of humans, Aspergillus fumigatus [12], most of the members are useful microorganisms in nature for degradation of plant polysaccharides [13], and they are important industrial microorganisms for the large-scale production of both homologous and heterologous en- zymes [14-18]. Among them, Aspergillus oryzae and Aspergillus niger are on the Generally Recognized as Safe list of Food and Drug Administration in the United