Rare type of fungi- Not much resource available online

1. Guided by: Dr Kumananda Tayung
Presented By-
Tridip Boruah
MSc 1st semester
Roll no: 37
Department of Botany
Gauhati University

2. Fungi are chlorophyll-less thallophytes having
heterotrophic, eukaryotic and spore bearing
organisms surrounded by a well defined cell
wall made up of chitin, with or without fungal
cellulose along with many other complex
organic molecules.
From the point of view of their nutrition the
fungi may be classified as-
Saprophytes
Parasites
Symbionts
Predacious fungi

3. Definition:
Coprophilous fungi are a type of
saprophytic fungi that grow on animal
dung. They include representative of all the
four classes of fungi. Certain genera have a
high proportion of of coprophilous
representative and some genera (eg:
Ascobolus, Podospora) are more or less
exclusively coprophilous.

4. First reference of a coprophilous fungi is known, in
the form of a record Pilobolus on horse dung in
“Historia Plantarum”, by Johannes Bannister from
Virginia in 1688. Thus, the knowledge on fungal
association with dung was known to the botanists
since the 17th century. However, systematic work on
these fungi began towards the end of the 19th
century. Some pioneers of this branch of fungi are
Zopf (1874), Bainier (1882), Van Tieghem (1875),

5. The distribution of coprophilous fungi is closely
linked to the distribution of the herbivores on
which they rely such as Rabbits, Deer, Cattle,
Horses and Sheep .
Some species rely on a specific species for dung,
e.g: Coprinus radiatus and panaeolus
campanulatus grow exclusively on horse feaces
Fungi belonging to genera Coprinopsis,
Panaeolus and Deconica produce mushrooms.
e.g: Conocybe rickenii, Psilocybe cubensis,
Deconica coprophila etc.

6. Bolbitius vitellinus Pilobolus orangia Conocybe rickenii
Crucibulum laeve Psilocybe cubensis Panaeolus papilionaceous

7. Coprophilous fungi release their spore to the
surrounding vegetation, which is then eaten by
herbivores. The spores then remain in the
animal as the plants are digested, pass through
the animal intestines and finally defected. The
fruiting bodies of the fungi then grow on the
animal feces.
It is essential that the spores of the species
reaches new plant material, spores remaining in
the feces will produce nothing

8. The animal feaces provide an environment rich in nitrogenous
material, which has been largely sterilized by the high
temperature, as well as the enzymes in the animal’s digestive
system. The spores themselves survive digestion by being
particularly thick walled, allowing them to germinate in the
dung with minimum competition from other organisms

9.  Antifungal agents
Food industry
Bioremediation
Production of Organic acids
Isolation of secondary metabolites
Alcohol production

11. Some fungi possess an efficient hydrolytic system
capable to convert lignocellulosic material to
essential metabolites for growth. These are called
Cellulolytic fungi. Usually, these fungi secret
enzymes, including cellulases, hemicellulases, and
β-glycosidases.
By 1976, more than 14000 fungi active against
cellulose and other insoluble fibres had been
identified

12. Fifty two fungal isolates with cellulolytic activities
were isolated on Czapex’ dox with a filter paper
and CMC agar media. The cellulase system of the
mesophilic fungi Trichoderma reesei and
Phanerochaete chrysosporium are most
thoroughly studied. The production of cellulase by
the members of genus Fusarium, Aspergillus,
Trichoderma were investigated by several workers

13. Trichoderma reesei Phanerochaete chrysosporium
Aspergillus terreus Aspergillus fumigatus

14. Fungi excrete a complex array of related enzymes
for degradation of cellulose. The enzymes tend to
be present in multiple forms, based on a single
genetic sequence , and include a range of
isoenzymes, which arise for different genetic
sequences. The consequence is that enzyme groups
function synergistically for rapidly and completely
break down cellulose

15. •In pulp and paper
•Enzymatic deinking
•Textile industry
•Enhancing the feeding value of agro-
industrial bye-products
•Detergents
•Starch conversion

16. Both Coprophilous and Cellulolytic fungi has a wide
range of application. Many genera of these fungi are
still unexplored and research are going on to find
out new possibilities. Looking at the present
Pharmaceutical and industrial products extracted
from these fungi, it is an encouraging sign for
carrying out more researches in this field