Isolation and screening of lipase producing fungi from soil

Abstract

Lipases are glycerol ester hydrolases that catalyze the hydrolytic cleavage of ester bonds of water insoluble triglycerides to free fatty acids and glycerol. Soil is an excellent habitat of variety of enzyme producing microbes. Hence, soil samples were collected from 4 different regions and used for isolation of fungi.  Fungi with different colony characteristics (zonation, sporulation, colouration, texture, shape and size) were appeared on potato dextrose agar plates. Based on difference in their appearance, a total of 27 fungi were selected for screening on tributyrin agar (TBA) plates for identification of lipase producers. Among these, 6 fungal isolates demonstrated halo zone around their colonies on TBA plates. 19 isolates did not show any halo zone around their colonies and remaining 2 isolates did not grow on TBA plates.